Other changes are roiling the workforce. Among to show; at that point, some form of aerosolization white-collar workers, remote work has become the expands the reach of the virus.3 Other studies point new norm. Some are thrilled about their greater to the prevalence of asymptomatic patients. And productivity and flexibility, as well as the time and the sharing of major transmission events affords sanity reclaimed from long, stressful commutes. another window of learning from the virus. A recent Others cannot wait to get back to the office: for case involved an unwitting COVID-19 carrier in a them, the lack of a home-office setup and the restaurant who sneezed into an air-conditioning inability to separate work from life are major sources duct and spread the infection to everyone there. of stress. Dual-career couples have additional stresses, which may increase if schools cannot Other critical recent findings focus on seasonality. open in a few months. Finally, as companies try Hopes for a rapid fall in COVID-19 cases as summer new models of remote and on-site work, novel approaches in the Northern Hemisphere have challenges may arise, such as widely different subsided: in Asia the resurgent virus is once again subcultures for these two groups of workers—with taking hold, despite the onset of summer, and very different norms, expectations from employers, its transmission is increasing in warmer climates and team health. around the world. More economic activity and reduced physical distancing have also driven a Shifts in regulation resurgence of the virus. These developments Regulators and governments around the world are have important lessons for companies: any regime using varied philosophies of public health; Sweden, of interventions that they set up cannot ignore for example, is focusing on achieving herd immunity. presymptomatic and asymptomatic patients. There Many countries do not have consistent national should be a real focus on facilities and how they are health standards; for instance, 13 US states today configured. ban all gatherings, 24 ban gatherings of over ten people, ten or so let about 20 to 50 people gather. Early concerns about significant bottlenecks in The rest have completely lifted their bans or have testing are, slowly but surely, starting to ease. This taken no action. Variation among cities and counties welcome news is coinciding with the arrival of a is even starker. A wide range of societal beliefs, broader range of testing options. Testing will be a economic realities, and political challenges underlie critical question in coming weeks and months as these choices. increasing numbers of employers try to ensure a safe return to the workplace—the core task—by For leaders whose businesses span multiple looking to new polymerase chain-reaction (PCR) geographies, ensuring consistency is highly tests, more informative serological tests (current challenging. Business leaders are understandably versions have known issues), and other new anxious to protect their employees while ensuring developments. All the new information should compliance. They know that they need to establish help companies set distancing guidelines, stagger some level of productivity to preserve the future of shifts, develop new hybrid on-site/remote models, their companies. and so on. Every move will have to be evaluated immediately and refined as necessary—a tough task, Increasing information about protocols for safety but one that the nerve center can accept in stride. The gargantuan medical and scientific effort focused on COVID-19 has already produced important insights that directly affect how Building the muscle for response — companies respond. For instance, newer and resilience studies have suggested that the point of highest Most companies have already established “war transmissibility is the day before symptoms begin rooms” to coordinate the recovery and the return 3 Xi He et al, “Temporal dynamics in viral shedding and transmissibility of COVID-19,” Nature Medicine, April 15, 2020, nature.com. 8 What now? Ten actions to emerge stronger in the next normal September 2020