How COVID-19 Redefines the Concept of Sustainability

Abstract

In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of a new coronavirus disease, COVID-19, to be a public health emergency of international concern. Currently, in several countries globally, this pandemic continues to enforce the temporary closure of all nonessential shops and services aside from supermarkets and pharmacies. Workers in countries that are at a high risk of infection have been asked to work from home, as cities have been placed under lockdown. Even curfews to combat the spread of the virus have been imposed in several countries, with all this signaling an unprecedented disruption of commerce. Companies are facing various challenges regarding health and safety, supply chain, labor force, cash flow, consumer demand and marketing. People in the thousands are dying every day from the virus’s symptoms, while a public health issue has forced the world to come to a halt and rethink what a sustainable future for our planet and existence is. These drastic recent events have raised the deliberation by the authors to redefine the concept of sustainability.