Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on US Infrastructure- Part 3

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on US Infrastructure- Part 3

As mentioned in Part 2 of this series, the lack of infrastructural capital to not only operate current projects but also fund future, long-term projects is an extremely negative fallout resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. One way to address this is by public-private partnerships which the US has taken little light of.

But, I definitely believe the country is seeing the benefits of having such agreements. Take the example of the healthcare sector: “As the CDC stumbled around in its early testing, Mayo and Cleveland Clinic rapidly developed their own tests, only to be forced to stand down by government agencies.  Now they are unleashed, as is Roche, ThermoFisher, Integrated DNA Technologies, LabCorp and Quest” (Healthevolution). Even the big technology companies like Google and Apple are regularly publishing mobility reports to support decision makers. This is also a great opportunities for governmental agencies to partner with companies and start-ups in the technology Sector for the latest digital tools. It is also an opportunity for the former to ensure that critical government services can be run digitally as well.

The CDC Building in Washington, D.C. (Image Credits: CNBC)

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on US Infrastructure- Part 2

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on US Infrastructure- Part 2

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreck havoc causing economies to be disrupted and major declines in employment rates, federal, state and local government agencies are looking at prospects of huge revenue shortfalls, lack of support system for service and maintenance, furloughing their employees and the prospect of multiple waves. In the transportation sector, most agencies are depended on various tax streams (e.g. the farebox tax, sales taxes, gas tax). With all these sources depleted, they have to depend on federal agencies to bail them out. This also puts a risk not only to their current projects but also the ones they have planned for the future.

At the same time, this is also a great opportunity for these agencies to fix their long-standing problems of projects still stuck in the gestation period. This is the time for them  address these critical issues and modernize the infrastructure, without compromising on the safety.

The MTA ridership has plummeted over the last three months (Image Credits: ABC7 New York)