Legendary billionaire and investor Warren Buffett believes the COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet. All over the world, there is a struggle with the negative economic consequences that affect small businesses the worst.
"It’s not over. I mean, in terms of the unpredictability...it’s been very unpredictable, but it’s worked out better than people anticipated for most people and most businesses. And it’s just, for no fault of their own, it’s just decimated all kinds of people and their hopes," Buffett stressed. "The economic impact has been this extremely uneven thing where ... many hundreds of thousands or millions of small businesses have been hurt in a terrible way, but most of the big companies have overwhelmingly done fine," the Berkshire Hathaway CEO added.
At the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, global health experienced a crisis. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic also cut a deadly swath across America, which led to a shutdown of the US economy. The blow inflicted on the economy could be compared only to the Great Depression.
In the first quarter of 2020, US GDP nosedived by an impressive 31.4%. Many small businesses were forced to close and their customers turned to large retailers and online services.
However, the pandemic has not disappeared in a year and the complete victory over the deadly virus is far away, Buffet believes. He argues that the world has learned an invaluable lesson because of the pandemic. Despite our technology and medicine, humanity still has a low level of preparation for emergency situations.
Currently, the COVID-19 delta strain is rampant in 92 countries of the world. According to Buffett, it will become the dominant variant of the coronavirus worldwide. In the United States, its spread is lightning fast. The number of cases doubles every two weeks.
