It is not like we haven’t dealt with a problematic virus prior to the COVID-19 specter appeared. Earlier this century it was the SARS outbreak that was predicted to explode across the globe in biblical proportions, but thankfully it failed to reach an epic scale. And just a decade ago the world stared down the outbreak of H1N1 that proved less of a threat than most experts expected. However, even the most jaded crisis manager and security professional couldn’t have predicted the swiftness and voracity of the current pandemic and how it has dwarfed any previous global viral experience governments, businesses and organizations have ever encountered.
Undoubtedly, beyond the mounting death count and economic devastation, the most insidious aspect of this coronavirus pandemic has been an almost total alteration of daily life. From the way we interact with people, shop for our groceries, comfort our loved ones in hospitals or nursing homes to sending our children to school, everything has changed.
As school administrations contemplate how – or if – they will be able to open their schools come this fall, the one constant is it won’t be business as usual. According to William Plante, a Senior Principal with ADT Commercial’s Enterprise Security Risk Group, no planning he’d ever seen could adequately prepare the U.S. student population and workforce for what has been wrought by COVID-19.
“Much of the new workplace and classroom norm is a direct result of almost on-the-fly planning to mitigate virus exposure and to simultaneously support remote-based productivity and learning in this new reality. We’re still in the midst of COVID-19, and the impacts on the workplace and campuses will create a new normal, even when we have an immunized population and a rigorous testing program available. We may have the perfect storm of three colliding phenomena that will forever impact the campus environment and security strategies,” says Plante, citing the transformational design changes being created for campus spaces, the more streamlined security technology that accounts for user experience, and what he calls the COVID-19 maelstrom.
For Guy Grace, who serves as the Director of Security and Emergency Planning for Littleton Public Schools outside of Denver, it is all about adapting to the new normal.
“It is so important for schools right now to be working with other stakeholders. These stakeholders are designated school personnel with decision-making authority (with the collaboration of registered school nurses) should work with the local health department to coordinate steps for the upcoming school year. However, when we put in measures the end goal is always safety. The best safety is when it is holistically applied. Does it empower the students to learn, the teachers to teach and the community who has their love ones in the school to function the best that it can,” explains Grace.
The bottom line is that the relationship between technology and its users will never be the same as it relates to the security industry. The crisis has created a new normal.
About the Author: Steve Lasky is a 34-year veteran of the security publishing industry and multiple-award-winning journalist. He is currently the Editorial Director for the Endeavor Business Security Media Group, the world’s largest security media entity, serving more than 190,000 security professionals in print, interactive and events. It includes Security Technology Executive, Security Business and Locksmith Ledger International magazines, and SecurityInfoWatch.com, the most visited security web portal in the world. He can be reached at [email protected]
