當時我們並不知道,幾個月後,全球將如此聚焦於新冠肺炎疫情。因此,當我們規劃年度TIME百大人物時,編輯群請受訪者針對應對COVID-19大流行時所面臨的一些挑戰,提出其見解和觀點。
其中有50多位同意參加此特刊。台灣總統蔡英文介紹了她的國家為限制新型冠狀病毒的傳播採取的措施,並提議幫助其他國家阻止未來的爆發。 Alphabet首席執行官Sundar Pichai預測,這場危機將永久性地改變我們的工作方式,使遠程辦公變得更加靈活,對高頻寬網路的需求也將更加迫切。前蘇聯總統戈爾巴喬夫(Mikhail Gorbachev)主張重新考慮整個全球安全概念,以強調人類健康的重要性。《TIME》百大人物總編輯丹·麥克賽(Dan Macsai)指出:「在這些觀點中,可看出韌性和希望的存在。」
Little did we know, of course, that a few months later the entire world would find itself singularly focused on that very search. And so for this issue, which we had planned as our annual TIME 100, we instead asked members of our TIME 100 community for insights and perspectives on some of the challenges we are all facing in navigating the new realities of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 50 of them agreed to be part of this special issue. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen writes about the steps her nation took to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus (it has fewer than 400 confirmed cases as of April 14) and offers to help other countries stem future outbreaks. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai predicts this crisis will permanently change the way we work, with more flexibility to be remote and more urgency around access to broadband Internet. Former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev, who helped guide the world into a period of collaboration that seems unimaginable today, argues for rethinking the entire concept of global security to emphasize human health. Throughout these contributions, notes Dan Macsai, editorial director of the TIME 100, who oversaw the issue, “there is an underlying message of resilience and hope.”