World Economic Forum Is Taking All These Covid-19 Precautions At Davos

There’s that old saying, “Do as I say, not as I do.” So a big question is what are political and political leaders actually doing about Covid-19 precautions for themselves right now? Plenty of them have been publicly pushing for Covid-19 precautions to be dropped. In fact, some have even claimed that the pandemic is over, as I covered for Forbes back in September 2022. Yet, the pandemic doesn’t look too over at that annual gathering of political and business leaders at Davos, Switzerland, known as the World Economic Forum (WEF). You know the one that’s been going on from January 16 to 20. Just take a look at the list of all the Covid-19 precautions that the WEF has in place, a list that Lucky Tran, PhD, an organizer for the March for Science and a science communicator at Columbia University, recently shared on Twitter:

Now, if you were someone who somehow thought that Covid-19 precautions were no longer needed, you might be inclined to say, “WTF WEF,” after seeing that WEF list. For example, the WEF still has fairly stringent Covid-19 testing requirements: “Participants are required to get tested in one of the Forum testing centres after arriving in Davos and picking up their badge. Conducting a test will keep the badge active and grant the access to the Annual Meeting’s venues. Failing to conduct an onsite test or a positive test result will lead to the badge being deactivated.” Badge getting deactivated sounds like they’re taking this Covid-19 thing pretty seriously.

And apparently the WEF has been facing the facts that face masks can prevent transmission of the virus with the following requirement: “On Forum-provided official transport, all drivers will wear masks at all times.” Moreover, they specified that “inside the Annual Meeting’s venues, areas will be cleaned, disinfected and ventilated several times a day.” Yep, that’s several times a day, which may be several more times than you’re used to at your workplace. Plus, the WEF did “air” on the side of extra ventilation: ”Additional state-of-the-art ventilation systems have been installed in areas with restricted air circulation.” After all, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can go airborne, right?

So why is the WEF going through these efforts when your local stores, restaurants, airplanes, trains, Ubers, workplaces, or even health clinics may not being the same? Is it more about them than you. Or, more specifically, is it it about who is actually attending the WEF? Clearly the WEF recognizes the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic is not over and that the SARS-CoV-2 remains a threat. And the WEF has imposed such Covid-19 precautions seemingly without too much resistance from the attendees. Could the attendees actually be in favor of or at least OK with such precautions?

So who is attending the WEF at Davos? If you are wondering why you didn’t get an invitation, maybe you weren’t quite special enough. The WEF isn’t something that you can crash or use a Groupon to attend. It’s by invitation only. Attendees include several thousand investors, business leaders, political leaders, economists, celebrities, and the like. Founded on January 24, 1971, by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab, the WEF is a not-for-profit foundation that “engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas,” as described by the WEF website. Yeah, most other everyday gatherings are more to shape a pile of mashed potatoes than to “shape global, regional and industry agendas.” So the WEF is clearly a gathering for people who have access to resources, connections, and influence that most people don’t have.

Therefore, it is interesting to see the contrast between what’s being implemented at the WEF versus what you see in places around you and hear from the political and business leaders. Tran added in his tweet thread, “While elites take every COVID precaution possible when they meet with each other at the World Economic Forum, they go home and tell us that COVID is no longer a threat, and the pandemic is over,” as you can see here:

He added, “ Actions speak louder than words.”

So if you are wondering what to do about Covid-19, maybe you should take a closer look at what political and business leaders are actually doing rather than saying. For example, are those political leaders who are pushing against Covid-19 precautions on public transit actually taking public transit themselves? If you don’t do what leaders actually do for themselves, you could find yourself in some deep doo-doo.