COVID-19/Economy/Travelling

Learning Task

 * (Travelling in General) Explain in general how travelling increases epidemiological connectivity between different areas! What is difference between travelling of 100 people in large areoplane respecting the 1,50m distance and travelling with a small aeroplane with just 10 passenger, that sit close to each other? What are the economical consequences of those seat pattern (the ticket cost will be 3-4 times higher due to unoccuppied seats, ...)
 * (Aeroplane Seat Pattern) Analyse the areoplane seat pattern on the right and explain the geometric principle.
 * (Geometry of Seat Patterns) Analyse the geometry of the seat patterns.
 * (Distancing in Aeroplanes) Explain how and if the 1,50m distance can be respected in an aeroplane.
 * (Aerosols) Explain how the number of occupied seats in contribute to the risk of infection (contribution to areosols).
 * Define the pattern that descreases the risk, so even people going to the toilet respect a minimal distance! Maximize the number of allowed passenger.
 * (Costs of Tickets) Calculate the cost of an ticket passengers only fly if distancing is respected in the areoplane (fixed costs per take-off and landing, cost of fuel, fees for landing at an airport, reduction of fuel due less weight of the aeroplane, ...)!
 * (Risk Literacy and Role Play) Explain what is required to communicate risk literacy in a scientifically sound way, what is the economical risk for the companies and who is taking the epidemioligical risk of infection if risk mitigation strategies are not applied? Negotiate in groups and represent different stakeholders (managing director of company, politician, epidemiologist, medical staff, ...)!
 * (Economical Impact & Epidemiological Impact) Explain why it is important to transform workflows towards an epidemiological secure process, recalculate ticket cost and do a complete market assessment for the requirements and constraints!
 * (Feedback Loops - Early vs. Late Response) System thinking analyzes feedback loops. Discuss the feedback loop of missing early risk mitigation strategies and early response that could lead to a more severe impact on economy that early responses. How could compare the economical impact of early response to COVID-19 to late response of COVID-19? Discuss in groups.
 * One group argues for early responses,
 * one group argues for late responses and
 * the other groups tries to avoid any economical restriction at all.
 * How could you compare these approaches on a scientifically sound way?


 * (Scientific Publication) Analyse scientific publication about infectious disease that the risk of infection in areoplanes! Add those reference in peer reviewed journals to the reference list below!
 * (Sustitute Travelling) Perform an analysis of different types of travelling (business trips, holiday trips, visiting relatives and friends, ...) Compare different use cases for yourself and identify traveling that can be substituted by other means (e.g. Video conferencing and IT-Infrastructure) and explain traveling that is still required and cannot be substituted (e.g. trip to specialized hospital for a surgery of treatment, ...).
 * (New Jobs/Different Workflow) Assume people would travel to a different time zone for several meetings and would now substitute the traveling by video conferences. Even then people must switch sometimes to a different time zone and office and need specialized video conference infrastructure e.g.
 * Virtual Reality separate screen for each participant,
 * joint dinners with video conferencing and/or
 * an time adapted breakfast, lunch and dinner for those participants, that adapt to new time zones.
 * specialized services for time zone adapted high quality video conferencing with regional meeting points (e.g. at airports with specialized conferencing support, using hotels at airports and the conferencing services for adapted time zones). Passengers would travel to airport but they will not take an aeroplane and use the specialized conferencing and hotel infrastructure. Compare service infrastructure and possible new jobs. What else can be done to make the conferencing less time consuming for the participants with an excellent service for different time zones. Less traveling will reduce the carbon footprint of a meeting. How can the service be provided with an epidemiological secure environment. How can the infrastructure be used in Post-COVID-19 times?


 * (Adaptation of Business Models) Explain how the business model must be adapted to the new requirements and constraints! What are the main challenges for the companies? Can you identify approaches and innovation that transform the business model to new requirements and constraints of COVID-19 era and post-COVID-19 era. Companies to explore new and cost efficient way to transform their business model to be more competitive, more environmental friendly or more sustainable in general! What do you see as economical innovation in general that will be present also in post COVID-19 times.