Eyes on an unseen enemy

ONE of the best sellers on online shopping platforms this past three months is a China-made hair clipper.

It is understandable why the item is so popular – easy to operate and priced (including delivery) from between RM35 and RM45. As someone who goes to the barber every month, the hair clipper was one of the first products I ordered online during the movement control order.

But nothing beats the real thing. And that is why I was overjoyed when the government allowed the opening of barber shops nationwide from Wednesday.

The owner of my neighbourhood barber shop did a thorough cleaning and disinfection of his premises before resuming operations.

Unfortunately, like a lot of other businesses, he has been hit hard by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and has had to lay off half his workforce – all foreigners.

The recovery phase of the movement control order, effective from June 10 to Aug 31, is a bittersweet moment for small businesses. On one hand, the further lifting of restrictions on various sectors of the economy is a relief but on the other hand, the damage has already been done.

Quite a number of businesses, especially SMEs, will close or are already in the process of winding up. The ones that survived the almost-three month MCO phase have been badly affected. Yes, these SMEs like my neighbourhood barber shop are now open for business, but operations have changed. Only the smart operators who can keep their costs down will survive.

“My haircut rates will remain the same for now but I have no choice but to increase prices soon,” the owner told me.

This knock-on effect, the result of months of inactivity while businesses continued to absorb costs like rental and staff salaries, will be passed on to consumers. That is a certainty.

Expect to pay more for services and expect to pay more for goods as well as food and beverage. We, and the world in general, are in the early stages of a global recession that may well go on into 2021.

Just as we need to get used to life in the time of pandemic – minimum number of persons in elevators, providing phone numbers for contact tracing purposes, multiple checkpoints at malls, constant washing of hands and most importantly the protection of the aged, sick and vulnerable – we also need to get used to paying more for goods and services. Inflation and recession will be a reality and the cost of services and prices will rise.

We haven’t yet won the war against Covid-19 but our lockdown methods have proven effective in restricting the spread of the virus. This in turn has allowed the government to open almost all facets of the economy.

Crucially, the next step to life returning to some semblance of normality is the reopening of schools on June 24.

More than half a million students and their teachers will go back to school. These fifth and sixth formers will be watched closely because

the adherence to social distancing measures (without a spike in Covid-19 cases) will be the most important criteria for the government to allow the rest of the education system – secondary and primary students – to return to school.

In fact, if the numbers indicate that we have won the battle against Covid-19, then the government, hopefully, considers lifting the recovery MCO before Aug 31.

For now though, we have to remain vigilant. The social distancing and safety measures in place are a nuisance but absolutely necessary.

My first hike in three months was at Taman Tugu’s forest trail on Tuesday. It may have been an outdoor trek but the management of Taman Tugu has put a strict SOP in place – temperature checks and limiting the number of hikers at any one time.

The recovery MCO phase will see a large majority of the workforce back in operation. This influx of workers will make it absolutely essential for companies to have precautions in place such as health screenings, staggered working hours and rotational groups.

The Business Continuity Plans (BCP) for most companies, especially multinationals, were triggered when the MCO was first implemented on March 18.

Many of these companies introduced “work from home” protocols and while this plan will now vary with different organisations, the BCPs should still be in place to guard against a second wave of the pandemic and further disruptions.

Our “Merdeka” from the recovery MCO will coincide with our National Day.

This is significant in many respects, because if we can maintain the decreasing infection curve and achieve zero positive cases for a sustained period, years from now people will say that we achieved our “independence” from the great pandemic on Aug 31.