From Crisis to Culture: Moving from COVID Crisis Response to Implementing a “COVID-19 Culture”

The threat of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) took center stage in the world’s theater, seemingly overnight. Hospitals, schools, airlines, and industries of all types scrambled to react to the rapidly changing dynamics of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Federal, state, and local agencies issued rapid-fire guidance as this virus evolved from an epidemic to a global pandemic.

Soon after, some agencies identified the need to revise and reissue certain recommendations, as more information was obtained through epidemiological data and scientific research and modeling. Add in presidential executive orders, state shelter-in-place orders, and even some local ordinances, and the best one could do was to react and respond to this ever-changing crisis.

Today, we see that COVID-19 isn’t a blip on the radar screen. We are many months away from proven treatments and possibly years away from an approved and widely adopted, effective vaccine. As such, we enter the stage where we move from reaction to proactive planning to mitigate and manage risk in the workplace, communities, schools, public spaces and events, and beyond.

Enter the era of the “new normal.”

The “New Normal” What does the COVID-19 “new normal” look like? It is still challenging to define, much less predict. Applicable guidance and the realities of the serious adverse health consequences of this virus reveal a specific need for the identification and implementation of COVID-19 control strategies and associated monitoring, verification, corrective actions, training, and documentation. The new normal also prompts the need to enhance a “COVID-19 culture,” akin to the foundation laid by food safety culture principles.