Three years on from our first report on Coronavirus

Today marks the third anniversary of Australasian Leisure Management’s first report on COVID-19, with this publication having run with the news item Coronavirus sees cancellation of major events and closure of attractions in China published on 24th January 2020.

First defected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, the Coronavirus at first seemed a Chinese public health issue, bringing up memories of the 2002 to 2004 outbreak of the SARS respiratory virus.

However, over subsequent days our reporting covered the closure of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Disney resorts, further cancellations of sporting events in east Asia and, on 28th January 2020, a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) suggesting that the Coronavirus could cause Australia’s GDP could fall by as much as $2.3 billion and that 20,000 jobs could be lost if the $9.2 billion spent per year by Chinese tourists and students in Australia declined.

At the time, China was the largest source of short-term visitors to Australia, with 1.45 million arrivals last year.

On 31st January 2020, the Coronavirus was declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization.

After that, the world, Australia and New Zealand and operations across this industry were progressively impacted by what grew to be a global pandemic - leading to national shutdowns, economic decline and job losses.

Globally, the pandemic resulted in the sharpest and most synchronised reduction in economic activity in history.

Here, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported in September last year, the nation’s “level of GDP is estimated to have suffered a cumulative loss of $158 billion compared to its pre-pandemic trajectory.”

The pandemic has also seen, as of 22nd January 2023, at least 6,739,355 deaths around the world.

As countries, now move beyond the pandemic, economic activity is returning to pre-pandemic rates with members back in gyms, guests back at theme parks, swimming pools full and live events thriving. However, the work environment has changed with most sectors experiencing staff shortage

As for the future, while the young and healthy have largely returned to their pre-pandemic lives, older people and those with underlying health issues continue to be affected and deaths continue.

On Sunday, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported that mainland China has been experiencing more than 10,000 deaths a week during January but that health authorities were downplaying fears of new waves of the pandemic, saying "most people have already been infected".

Meanwhile, the USA is reporting more than 2,000 deaths each week.

Moving forward, as the world will likely experience future pandemics, it would seem that governments will be better prepared for them.

However, don’t be surprised to see people wearing masks for years to come.