Now that public health agencies and other organizations have distributed nearly 3 billion doses of 10 different Covid-19 vaccines across more than 100 countries, and as the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that the number of new cases worldwide is continuing to decline, could there be a light at the end of the tunnel?

Many people think so. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease expert in the United States, has said that by the end of 2021, life in the U.S. could approach a level of normalcy. But for businesses, this "level of normalcy" prediction may be too optimistic. In fact, the light at the end of the tunnel may very well be a train.

Evidence does not suggest that uncertainty will subside at the same pace as Covid-19 cases decline. The reality is that businesses are coming out of the pandemic economy at a very difficult and precarious time that is ripe with social angst over political parties that take diametrically opposed, intractable positions on nearly every issue.