BUSINESS REFLECTION: After the Bell: A post-pandemic appraisal — in the final analysis, what did we learn?

  • 📰 dailymaverick
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 55 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 25%
  • Publisher: 84%

Business News News

Business Business Latest News,Business Business Headlines

When you think back on the coronavirus pandemic, it seems hard to believe we went through such a thing. What was that? Remember the lockdowns and the family meetings, and packed hospitals and the lines at the vaccine centres, and the masks, always the ...

During the pandemic, we all suddenly discovered our inner Uber Eats. Before the crisis in the US, e-commerce sales constituted about 10% of total retail sales. This exploded during the pandemic and understandably jumped to about 17% of total sales by the end of 2020.

On the other hand, the work-from-home effect is lingering and remains pretty dramatic all across the world. Foot traffic in Manhattan is still 50% down, and traffic on the London Underground remains at 30% of pre-pandemic numbers. The consequences for the office rental market are obvious. The appropriate metric here is excess deaths; the deviation from the mean in the number of people who died. SA’s deviation from the mean was about 19% for the period January 2020 to January 2023. That was about the same as Brazil, much less than Colombia and Mexico, and about the same as the smaller countries of eastern Europe.

Perhaps SA’s dual half-private/half-government system is not nearly as terrible as the advocates of National Health Insurance claim. I know aspects of it are unfair, but the dual system has the advantage of creating a dynamic private sector and a respectable, if deficient, public sector. For SA to emerge from the pandemic with around 4 percentage points more excess deaths than the US while paying 20 times less for healthcare is pretty incredible.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 3. in BUSİNESS

Business Business Latest News, Business Business Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

De Ruyter used 'wrong forum' to air concerns over Eskom corruption - business leaders | BusinessBusiness Leadership SA CEO Busi Mavuso says former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter chose the wrong forum to air his views on corruption at Eskom and should instead have reported them to the board and the police. | News24_Business _Business Lol it's tough when your biggest cheerleader speaks up against you _Business Fuck ya talking about ain't this democracy? _Business How do you report theft to the thieves?
Source: News24 - 🏆 4. / 80 Read more »

Gauteng business robbed of tyres worth R5mGauteng business robbed of tyres worth R5m: Gauteng police have arrested members of an alleged robbery syndicate targeting big vehicle and computer businesses. All illegal foreigners
Source: SABreakingNews - 🏆 41. / 51 Read more »

ESKOM LIVE | Load shedding lowered to Stage 4 | BusinessAll the latest news and analysis on load shedding, power and the national grid. _Business And are we supposed to be grateful? _Business Bullshit _Business Mind games.
Source: News24 - 🏆 4. / 80 Read more »

Gauteng business robbed of tyres worth R5mGauteng police have arrested members of an alleged robbery syndicate targeting big vehicle and computer businesses. cci_network
Source: SowetanLIVE - 🏆 13. / 63 Read more »

Climate change, rampant urbanisation fuel Brazil storm disasters | BusinessClimate change and unchecked construction in flood- and landslide-prone areas are making disasters like the violent storm that killed at least 48 people in southeastern Brazil ever more frequent, according to a leading expert. | News24_Business _Business Fake news
Source: News24 - 🏆 4. / 80 Read more »