Exiting A Pandemic Outbreak Lockdown: How to Return to the New Normal [Circuit Breaker]

Returning to Normalcy Following the Lockdown

lockdown Pandemic singapore_flag As COVID-19 continues to rage on across the globe with no end in sight, many countries have been forced to put their citizens and businesses on lockdown in order to curb the increasingly rapid spread of the virus. China, Italy, Ireland, New Zealand, Spain, Japan [State of Emergency], Singapore [Circuit Breaker], Malaysia [Movement Control Order], Philippines, South Korea, and many more have implemented or intend to implement restrictive (to varying degrees depending on the country) mass home quarantines in the hopes of starving out COVID-19's spreading across local communities.

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But eventually, the lockdown has to end. COVID-19's spread will eventually ebb and fade. Life as we know it has to continue, and we will be left to pick up the pieces on the way back to regular business operations. Meanwhile, as the outbreak inflow, the exit of each lockdown does not imply that it is back to normal as prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.

What is normal after the lockdown will never be the "normal", This Meet-The-webinar revolving around some of the concerns of the organisation based on the business continuity management (BCM) and crisis management (CM) perspective once the government starts to allow movement after a pandemic lockdown.

Preparations for Return to Normalcy

When the spread of COVID-19 drops to a level where the country is comfortable in lifting the lockdown, businesses must look towards reopening their worksites and returning to normal business operations.

Prior to the lockdown being lifted, a 'return to normal' plan and/or a revision of the restoration/return portion of the Business Continuity plan. To simplify the explanation, think of it as the reverse of getting your organisation to WFH. the This is to accommodate the nuances of recovering from COVID-19 should be done, and should include the following: BCM,-CC,-CM-with-6rs

Availability of physical access to the main worksite(s) (including whether it is safe for workers to even commute to work)
Roles and responsibilities of all staff in moving back to the main worksite(s), including who the decision-makers are?
Critical business functions, product and services to be restored first
Detailed procedures to be taken in moving back to the main worksite(s)
Do you have the mode of transportation and necessary logistics provided
Space planning in view of the social distancing requirement for COVID-19
Necessary precautionary measures that still need to be upheld even when operating at the main worksite(s) (masks, temperature checks etc)

Working Towards Full Normalcy

Working towards full normalcy but is returning back to normal that straightforward? The spread of COVID-19 may have lessened, but the virus is still out there. The danger of infection is still around. Thus, businesses must ask themselves:

What the nature of returning to the primary site entails?
Is it going to be a full or partial return to the primary site?
Are operations going to be split?
What happens if one of the returning staff is infected during their time at the office?

Will We Ever Be Back to Normal?

Businesses need to establish a multi-part return to the worksite. With an emphasis on the safety of staff and the need to be cautious for any further infections, the office will gradually move from a tentative limited to partial to a full opening over the course of weeks/months until the Pandemic fully dies down.

Finally, we need to asked the question: "What is the NEW normal?" while the organisation gets out of COVID-19?

The content is an extract of the Meet-the-Expert webinar "Exiting A Pandemic Outbreak Lockdown: How to Return to the New Normal [Circuit Breaker]" presented on 21 May 2020 by Dr Goh Moh Heng