News Update – Tuesday, August 18, 2020

APCO Worldwide's Coronavirus Beat is a weekly publication on the impact of COVID-19 on businesses, economies, policy and culture, and how leaders are responding. The next newsletter will appear Tuesday, August 25.

Have a comment about this newsletter? We welcome your feedback.

Business & Economic Impact

1. Nearly 200 million travel industry jobs could be eliminated due to the pandemic, according to a new forecast from the World Travel and Tourism Council, Business Insider

2. Despite its relative success in containing the pandemic, Thailand's economy is likely to be the worst among Asian countries this year due to a sharp decline in tourist arrivals, C NBC
3. Japan’s GDP declined at an annualized rate of 27.8% in the second quarter, as the pandemic slammed private consumption and exports, Nikkei Asian Review

Global Policy

1. Rising privacy concerns from the European Data Protection Board and the OECD have called on governments to stop and reverse the use of data when the pandemic is over, CNBC

2. Chinese government officials promised early access to vaccines to countries of strategic interest after the pandemic strained geopolitical ties, The Wall Street Journal
3. City mayors from across the world are calling on international leaders to commit to an equitable pandemic response for refugees and migrants, World Economic Forum

Control Measures

1. The United Kingdom imposed new quarantine requirements for travelers from France and the Netherlands, inciting France to take similar measures, BBC

2. Japan and Singapore have agreed to strengthen coordination in response to the virus and ease travel restrictions to enable reciprocal travel as of September, The Japan Times
3. Facing a new wave of COVID-19 cases, Spanish authorities announced new measures to crack down on alcohol consumption and outdoor smoking, NPR

Worth Noting

1. New Zealand will delay the country's parliamentary election by four weeks to October 17 after the reemergence of COVID-19 in the country last week, CNN

2. The American Institute for Economic Research predicts that public confidence in the government will reach new lows due to poorly planned coronavirus response efforts, AIER
3. An analysis of the pandemic’s impact on vulnerable populations showed that death from the coronavirus is skewing younger for minority groups, The Wall Street Journal

Stay Ahead: Insights from APCO

How COVID-19 and Recent Events Have Energized Online Advocacy

Dan Smith, associate director in APCO’s Washington, D.C., office, discusses how public relations leaders should take advantage of this moment and use digital tools to tap into a powerful zeitgeist around social responsibility and collective action:

"Social media platforms are going above and beyond to create unprecedented repositories of information which are expressly designed to accelerate knowledge sharing and improve public health outcomes. But it’s not just for the people—it’s by the people.

Strangers are reaching out with advice for those struggling with the pandemic as if they were friendly neighbors. As communicators and counselors, we have a unmatched opportunity to tap into these unified collectives, identify the common threads that bind them, and be the architects of meaningful changes in public opinion and policy."

For a Resilient Recovery, We Must Avoid Silos in our Global Scientific Communities

James Yi, managing director of the APCO Worldwide’s Southeast Asia and Korea operations, discusses how the recent of dividing biotech activities by country in a so-called “race for a cure” narrative is not a sustainable model for continued progress:

"Greater scientific collaboration is critical in reviving economic growth and scalable recovery as we battle this COVID-19 pandemic. Before COVID-19, the global biotech industry was estimated to expand at 9.9% CAGR to reach $775 billion by 2024. Asia Pacific holds the second largest share of biotech firms globally (24%), second only to the U.S. which makes up 48.2%.

More importantly, this pandemic has shown us that in addition to our ongoing work, there are many unmet patient health needs, which must be addressed urgently.
Realistically, we will only be able to achieve such goals in a reasonable timeframe by improving the way that we pool together our resources."

Some Positive News

Reconnecting with the community: Virtual services and online Shabbat dinners allowed members of the Jewish community to reconnect with their faith, CNN
Starry night: "Dark Sky" parks around the United States offer superior stargazing experiences, including virtual programs, The Wall Street Journal
Reusing masks: A professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found a way to decontaminate N95 masks with electric cookers, The Washington Post

More Tips from Around the Water Cooler

Should salaries increase because everyone is working from home, Forbes
Work-life balance is changing. These apps can help, The Wall Street Journal
Visions of the post-pandemic home, Financial Times
Don’t cut your marketing budget in a recession, Harvard Business Review

Quotables

"The pandemic will not be over until we reach herd immunity, either through a vaccine or through natural infections. Herd immunity is not a strategy but a proven scientific phenomenon, and to deny that is as silly as denying gravity."

- Martin Kulldorff, professor at Harvard Medical School

"If we can’t get the virus under control now we’ll have to notch up social distancing to higher levels, and that would have a big impact on our economy and people’s livelihoods."

- Chung Sye-kyun, Prime Minister of South Korea

The APCO team is working with clients globally to manage this crisis, and we stand ready to support your needs. For more resources from APCO, including our latest research, information on how we can help or to contact us, visit apcoworldwide.com/coronavirus.

About Coronavirus Beat

Coronavirus Beat is a bulletin of updates and clippings from the most relevant media and government sources created to help APCO’s clients keep abreast of the impacts of COVID-19 from around the world. APCO is supporting clients in managing the issues they confront related to the outbreak. Contact our crisis team at Crisis360@apcoworldwide.com or +1.866.360.APCO (toll-free) or +1.866.483.2726 (outside the United States).

APCO Worldwide is an advisory and advocacy communications consultancy helping leading public and private sector organizations act with agility, and build organizational reputations, brands, relationships and solutions to succeed. APCO has offices in more than 30 major cities throughout the world. To find out how APCO’s integrated services can help your company, visit apcoworldwide.com.