“Everything that happened in China will have to happen in other economies.” Renowned economist Lawrence Lau speaks on the economic, governmental, and societal impacts of the current global health crisis. Professor Lau has lived more than half his life in the United States, studying first at Stanford and Berkeley, before joining the Stanford faculty and becoming a professor at the age of 32. After the onset of SARS, he became the Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he continues to serve as the Lauder Professor of Economics. Our host James Chau interviewed him in Hong Kong.

In these uncertain times, it’s important to see the current crisis as a human crisis, and remember that radical acts of kindness can bring us closer together and help to make this world a better place to live. One such example is the Shangri-La Hotel in Wuhan. In the midst of the global health crisis, the five-star multinational hotel group provided rooms – a home – for 236 health workers who volunteered to the original epicenter of the crisis, and cooked 24,000 meals for doctors and nurses in hospitals nearby. Given the emergency the city was in, this was a unique challenge in itself. Our host James Chau spoke to Charlie Dang, Executive Vice President for Operations in South China at Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, to understand how acts of kindness in challenging times make us human.

Last Wednesday, our host James Chau interviewed Andrea Pastorelli, a friend in Rome who graciously agreed to speak about his experience being in lockdown in Italy. What he didn't know was that Andrea and his husband Seth Doane, a CBS correspondent, had that same day been tested for COVID-19. While Andrea was negative, Seth's result returned positive. Here, we get an inside look into Italy during this unprecedented time—a first-hand look into the private lives of friends and families at the European epicenter. We wish Andrea and Seth, and everyone following us, good health.