Outrunning the COVID-19 bear

There is an answer to an an old hypothetical question that can help you survive any threat, whether it is to your security, your way of life — or even your health in the form of a pandemic. It is a question I often use in security scenarios to influence the mindset of my clients: “How do you survive a bear attack?” The responses range from “curl into a ball” to “make yourself as large and loud possible.” These approaches may or may not have merit, but then I tell them the only sure-fire way to survive a bear attack: “You simply have to run faster than the person you’re with.”

Of course there is an element of cynicism to this theory — but the point I am making is that whatever threat you face in life, you have a choice about where you place yourself on the victim scale. Such life-preserving choices can, for example, include the seat you choose on an aircraft, where you sit in a restaurant and even what shoes you wear. It is a personal choice to be aware of your surroundings, understand potential dangers and consciously decide on which choice to make when your safety is threatened. The threat posed by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and its potentially fatal consequences, is no exception.

Take the case of choosing a seat on an aircraft, for example. If you are seated within seven rows of an exit and there is a serious incident during take-off or landing, which is when most fatal accidents occur, statistically your chances of survival are about 80 percent greater than if you are seated eight rows or further from an exit.

In a restaurant, the seat furthest from, but facing, the entrance gives you the maximum time to respond in the event of an attack or robbery. Your choice of footwear when walking down the street or visiting a mall becomes important if the need ever arises for you to run from a threat. In the case of any threat, your choices are rapidly reduced to just one of three options: Fight, flight or freeze. That is to say, do you take on the threat (by attempting to put out a fire for example), take flight and run away from the danger, or do you freeze and stay in place hoping that the threat does not see or reach you? In most threat scenarios, the “freeze” option is rarely recommended. Yet when it comes to COVID-19, staying put is not a choice, it is a necessity to give yourself the best chance of surviving a metaphorical

COVID bear.

The only way to avoid a fight with COVID-19 is to freeze. The only way to outrun (or rather, outlast) the chance of infection by the coronavirus is to freeze. Self-isolation is the most effective way to maximize your chances of not succumbing. If you ignore the advice and fail to do so, you are simply ensuring you will be the slowest runner when the COVID bear is hot on your heels.

Without doubt the human spirit will prevail over this pandemic, and in doing so it will doubtless establish a “new normal.” Who knows, we might even figure out that the world’s health is more important than the health of the financial markets, because without the former the bears will surely consume the latter.

Howard Leedham MBE is a former Royal Navy Commander and British Special Forces Officer.

Twitter: @howardleedham

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