The global spread of coronavirus is the one of this century's greatest threats. In North America, people have to reach back to the 9/11 attacks on the United States and the Second World War to draw useful comparisons. The United States Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders stated that "[t]he crisis we face from the coronavirus is on a scale of a major war, and we must act accordingly," he said. "The number of casualties may actually be even higher than what the armed forces experienced in World War II. In other words, we have a major, major crisis and we must act accordingly."1

Prime Minister Trudeau has asked the country to stay at home to the extent possible: "As much as possible, stay home. Don't go out unless you have to, work remotely if you can. Let the kids run around a bit in the house."2 The government has stepped up with financial relief on various levels.3 Prime Minister Trudeau holds a daily update on the coronavirus crisis each day in front of his home in Ottawa. The Government of Ontario announced that it is taking decisive action by making an order declaring an emergency under s. 7.0.1(1) of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act. This will legally require the closing of entities such as all bars and restaurants, except to the extent that such facilities provide takeout food and delivery.4 Premier Doug Ford announced the shutdown of all non-essential services across the province in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.5

Governments, corporations and organizations must implement risk assessment and risk management policies to combat coronavirus in the short term, but also in the long term.6 The flow of information on coronavirus that appears each day may be overwhelming to process. As the co-author of a book titled Profiting From Risk Management and Compliance,7 I have spent the last 15 years providing risk strategies to help organizations and governments to think about risk in both the short term and long term. This short article offers an outline of risk techniques that will be needed in the coming weeks and months.

Download >> Coronavirus Emergency Response: Risk Assessment and Risk Management

Originally published in the Toronto Law Journal, March 2020

Footnotes

1 https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/12/bernie-sadners-coronavirus-127514

2 (https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/trudeau-announces-latest-measures-to-fight-covid-19-full-transcript/

3 The Federal government announced that it would cover 10 per cent of wages. On March 27, 2020, Prime Minister Trudeau announced that "it's becoming clear that we need to do much more, so we're bringing that percentage up to 75 per cent for qualifying businesses. This means that people will continue to be paid, even though their employer has had to slow down or stop its operations because COVID-19." https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/trudeau-coronavirus-update-march-27-transcript/

4 https://news.ontario.ca/opo/en/2020/03/ontario-enacts-declaration-of-emergency-to-protect-the-public.html

5 https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ford-says-list-of-essential-businesses-amid-covid-19-pandemic-is-adjustable1.4865528

6 "Coronavirus will linger after the pandemic ends. But it won't be as bad." By Justin Lessler associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health., March 13, 2020 at 6:00 a.m. EDT. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/coronavirus-pandemic-immunity-vaccine/2020/03/12/bbf109966485-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html

7 Archibald and Jull, Profiting From Risk Management and Compliance (Thomson Reuters 2019).

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.