Corporations in all industries have to pay attention to the “what ifs” in life, as do individuals. They plan for natural disasters of all kinds, be they earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, floods, droughts, or pandemics. Mitigating and, over time, avoiding catastrophic events is essential.
For example, pandemics are real threats to health-insurance companies and hospital organizations. Under capitalism, they face huge losses or bankruptcy and irreparable damage to their reputation if they are not able to adequately serve their customers—the policy holders and patients—in the event of a pandemic. Consequently, they invest in pandemic preparedness. They have plans in place to quickly increase hospital capacity and staffing in an emergency and, if need be, to temporarily delay elective procedures. They stock excess critical medical supplies and devices and make sure their suppliers have plans in place to quickly ramp up production should the need arise. And as part of providing health insurance, they ask you up front to agree to terms related to managing a pandemic, such as wearing masks, socially distancing, and getting vaccinated (and if you don’t like the terms, you look for health insurance elsewhere).
Think Right or Wrong, Not Left or Right 