Maybe I should not be surprised at the speed and rate at which Americans have risen and mobilized to fight this war… but I am. I am truly amazed. If we saw it in a movie we would not believe it. American spirit, ingenuity and business are now on display and it is nothing short of astonishing. Here are some examples:
The field hospitals that have gone up in days, the repurposing of large facilities into hospitals complete with beds and necessary equipment; the appearance of massive medical ships/floating hospitals. Retooling and repurposing of plants from manufacturing cars to manufacturing ventilators; from making baseball uniforms to making masks; converting 3-D printing from printing orthodontic accessories to printing face shields; the ability to ramp up to mass face mask production almost overnight. Drug and biotech companies working to re-engineer the way vaccines are created, the development and manufacturing of test kits; the creativity that has led to the ability to repurpose anesthesia medical equipment to become ventilators, creativity to use various drugs and cocktails on this virus. With American technology, millions of people almost seamlessly have transitioned from going to an office to working from home in a matter of days; millions of others from kindergarten on up transitioned from going to a physical classroom to on an online class room in a matter of days; massive amounts of financial relief to businesses and laid off workers will be received in record time. The ability to develop the logistics to redirect our transportation and trucking industry to get medical equipment and supplies to those in need; the mobilization of communities to make sure those in need, be they young children or the elderly, are not going without food, and other organizations making sure those on the front lines are being fed. And this is without even mentioning the healthcare system that has created massive new capacity and whose people are working in over drive. And the list goes on…
Each one of these items on their own is amazing and that it is all happening at once is almost impossible to fathom –
A few weeks ago I thought about invaluable American inventions that did not exist 30 years ago, were taken for granted two months ago, and that we could not live without today and still accomplish what we are accomplishing:
The Internet
Amazon; shopping online; next day delivery
Mobile phones
Streaming, and the ability to select from thousands of shows movies, etc.
Google; Online information and news
Texting, email, FaceTime
Websites
Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter
Video games
Home Computers; iPads from Apple; Surfaces from Microsoft
Zoom video conferencing…..
This is just the tip of the iceberg. It says nothing about the medical advances such as gene sequencing or the developments going on today to fight the Covid19 pandemic.
The death, devastation and fear from Coivd19 has left no one untouched. Seeing empty streets, empty parking lots and long lines at the emergency rooms is devastating. However, American ingenuity and the companies that have been created here in America are now mobilizing the country for the common cause of defeating the worst of enemies. At the risk of sounding Pollyannaish, even in the worst of times I am so grateful to live in the United States and have the opportunity to invest in its future.
All comments and suggestions are welcome.
Denise M. Farkas, CFA