New Zealand has 'eliminated' Covid-19 as world marks new daily record of cases

New Zealand has "eliminated" coronavirus, the impact of protests on the pandemic, replacing office perks in WFH world, universities are suffering with the loss of international students, wearable tracing devices in Singapore, writing nice emails, and more in this edition.

And welcome back, friends. Apologies for the absence of a newsletter last week. With the protests occurring in the U.S. and other countries, I decided to let the newsletter take a back seat for the week and let readers (and myself) digest something other than coronavirus.

Now that we're back to it, here's the latest.

▶ New Zealand has 'eliminated' coronavirus

A bold claim, but the country has no more active cases and hasn't reported a new case in 18 days. This stands in stark contrast to the world recording its highly daily case count ever on Sunday with 136,000 new cases with outbreak hot spots continuing in Brazil and Pakistan while Indian hospitals are facing rising challenges finding hospital beds as cases spike.

New Zealand has moved to Alert Level 1, the lowest level since the beginning of the outbreak in the country. Alert Level 1 means citizens are not restricted in personal movements, but are still encouraged to keep a record of where they've been while authorities will maintain the ability to carry out rapid contract tracing should new cases arise.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been hailed for her leadership and handling of the pandemic in the country, with many pointing to her as an inspiration of strong female leadership.

With New Zealand and Australia planning on creating a travel bubble between the two countries, some pacific island nations are desperate to join. Countries like Fiji, which has seen no new cases in a month and moving closer to eradication of coronavirus are in dire need for tourism to return as the industry accounts for a third of the jobs in Fiji.

▶ Protest's impact

Over the last two weeks the U.S. saw massive, sustained protest in the streets over the police killing of George Floyd, with the protests against racism going global.

States reopening in the U.S. found themselves "blindsided and ill prepared for mass protests." With protests having occurred in places that are already coronavirus hotspots, there are fears that huge turnouts will lead to a resurgence of the disease because of the absence of social distancing. 14 states and Puerto Rico have hit seven day new case highs, and this is before the potential impact of protests is felt.

Unfortunately, the U.S. and the world is still very much in the throes of a pandemic and with protests there will be setbacks. Cities, communities and countries which have seen protests will likely have to weather their coronavirus impacts. Still, the W.H.O. has come out and said that even in a pandemic, public protests remain important.

Also see: LinkedIn members share advice on how to support black colleagues

▶ Covid-19 tech and innovation

• Here in Singapore, the government is considering issuing a wearable contact tracing device to everybody in the country. This follows technical difficulties in getting the TraceTogether app to work well on iOS or Apple devices, making it difficult to require as mandatory for the population.
• Taiwan, which has successfully fought off coronavirus and is currently loosening even more restrictions and easing rules around business travel, is making available two coronavirus health and tracing apps they developed but never released. The apps are said to meet both European Union and Taiwan law requirements. Taiwan also launched a website to share with the world the "successful policies that the country has implemented in its prevention efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic."
• Fishermen and farmers in Southeast Asia have gone digital in order to keep their livelihoods afloat. In Malaysia, farmers sold more than 1.5 tons of vegetables on e-commerce platform Lazada, which helped them avoid wasting product. In Indonesia, a farming co-operative group is helping members sell online, while demand for a Malaysian seafood subscription service has soared.

▶ Replacing office perks in the WFH world

Pre-pandemic, one of the big draws for an employee to join a company are the perks that come along with the job. For startups maybe those perks are stock in the company, a game room or free flowing kale salads and kombucha. Alright, so I'm a little jaded. For others it might be catered lunches, gyms, day care facilities, sleep pods or relax rooms.

(A gym at a LinkedIn office - PHOTO: Chris Anderson)

Now that many are working from home? Those perks? They're toast. Not that I've ever used a gym at an office, even once. Many businesses are making the adjustment by offering new web-based services to help their employees cope with higher levels of stress, while others are aiming to make up for lost perks tied to offices, such as free lunches or snacks or subsidized gyms, by sending employees snack boxes and virtual gym memberships.

Still miss those perks, don't fret as the office still isn't finished yet.

👉 Has your company switched up the perks? Say what's changed in the comments.

▶ How hiring is changing as businesses reopen

In LinkedIn Editor Andrew Seaman's latest newsletter edition of Get Hired (which you should subscribe to) he hits on some very key changes to what "hiring" actually means when businesses reopen. Some of the changes include getting ready for virtual career fairs, an interviews may be virtual or in-person but when they are in-person get ready for them to feel different than what you remember. Gone are the handshakes for example, and you should still be prepared for video interviews as the norm. Where applicable, virtual on-boarding will likely be the norm as well. Read more here.

▶ Overseas students no more

Universities popular with international students are bracing for drastic profit losses as students either may be unable to return to overseas schools because of travel restrictions, or choose to go to college closer to home. In the UK, overseas student loss may top $517 million. Some are expecting a 50 percent drop in international student enrollment in Australia by mid-2021. In the U.S., a top destination for international students, some predictions estimate a 25 percent drop in international students for this upcoming fall semester.

Until international travel restrictions start to really ease, Universities will have to find a way to survive without the tuition of international students.

👉 Are you an international student or the parent of an international student? What are your plans?

▶ Oh, and write nice emails

Experts are starting to point out the entirely obvious need for folks to write nicer emails in times of crisis. Here's a thought: It shouldn't have taken a pandemic for people to generally write nicer emails. In my time I've seen some real doozies, and have even been guilty of sending a few myself which of course had disastrous results. Lesson learned. Point is, it really is worth thinking about how you're addressing somebody and the tone you're taking in emails and online communications these days. Keep things simple and to the point, have empathy and as a golden rule, don't be pushy.

👉What tips would you suggest in crafting emails in times of crisis? What lessons have you learned?