The Pandemic-Fueled Panic Attack: What Should We Learn From It?

The question: More than a year after the fast-spreading COVID-19 pandemic convinced leaders to shut down businesses, schools, and travel, was it the right thing to do?

A thought leader’s take: Tony Zorc says those decisions were short-sighted and too severe considering the COVID-19 death rate was relatively low per number of infections. The author of Iconoclasm: A Survival Guide In The Post-Pandemic Economy and a tech entrepreneur, Zorc says the pandemic led to a collective panic attack, especially among our leaders, and that there’s a lot we can learn from it.

“In March of 2020, most of the world – along with our politicians – panicked,” Zorc says. “Our collective reaction to the virus points to one crucial factor: Not enough of us in society question what we are told – potentially to our own detriment.

“When presented with an unfamiliar threat in the form of a novel coronavirus, life as we knew it shut down. Panic is the predictable response when you have never prepared or been trained to go through a certain conflict. The reality is that the vast majority of people who have contracted this virus have not died. While this does not bring comfort when you are the one who lost somebody, it should affect policy and procedure on a larger scale.”

Zorc’s main reasons we panicked: 

• The 24-hour news cycle. “Panic is a dream come true for today’s media outlets. Regardless of their political position, humans are wired to accept repetition as fact.”
• Social sensitivity. “Many of those who spoke in interest of the economy early on in the pandemic had to contend with being labeled tone-deaf, insensitive, or even heartless.”
• Lack of presidential leadership. “Although President Trump was clearly pushing to reopen the economy from the pandemic’s outset, he failed to lead us through the pandemic with a unified, coordinated national response. The lack of unity and a centralized plan fed the flames of panic.”
• Unpreparedness. “We should not have had to waste time figuring out how to manage this pandemic. A set of rules and protocols for this type of situation should have been outlined in detail by the government.”

His path forward: Zorc says recovery from all the damaging effects of the pandemic requires a willingness to question old ways and stop assuming that most leaders, especially the intractable ones, know best.

“Most of us let others think through what is best for us and readily accept their vision,” he says. “We don’t bother to challenge the paradigm they have established. The pandemic proved that such a mindset is a big mistake.”

Tony Zorc is the author of Iconoclasm: A Survival Guide In The Post-Pandemic Economy. He is a tech entrepreneur and founder of Accounting Seed. Zorc designed a flexible technology as an accounting software solution and his vision became the platform for his international company, which has sold over 15,000 licenses to customers in numerous industries. In 2018, Accounting Seed was named among CFO Tech Outlook’s Top 10 Accounting Solutions Providers. A graduate of Hope College, Zorc was the Illinois High School Gymnastics Coaches Association senior gymnast of the year in 1992 and a state champion.