Hi everyone. It looks like we are all going to be spending more time at home.
Please let us know in the comments section what the situation is like in your country/region. I am in the San Francisco Bay Area. There is a huge cruise ship off shore that has infected people. There are also a number of infected people on land. Large companies are telling their employees to work at home. Restaurants are losing money. Some schools (like Stanford University) and large events (like business conventions and film festivals) are canceled.
7 comments:
They cancelled SXSW here in Austin, TX. I hope MogotGP isn't canceled in April, but my guess is that it will be.
I'm taking my kids to NYC next week for spring break, I'm not changing those plans.
In Chile, cases have gone from zero on monday to one in tuesday to eight today. There is no panic yet but I think it would be somewhat right to be very afraid. There is no reason to think the same that's happened in China, Iran, Korea and Italy won't happen pretty much everywhere else.
MotoGP Austin has been postponed until Nov 15
Just cancelled my trip to Barcelona for next week. Concern of being quarantined (and the subsequent financial impact) has me worried about travel. Working in the restaurant business, I've seen a 50% drop in sales over the last two weeks. Seattle is noticeably quieter with Amazon and Microsoft employees working from home. Just waiting for the email from ownership that says we'll be closing our restaurants temporarily. The hospitality group I work for does have sick pay, but for tipped employees, the base wage accounts for only about 60% of income. The gaps on grocery store shelves are sometimes comical (Kombucha panic-buying? c'mon, Seattle) but there is definitely an overwhelming sense of concern in the air.
Some 60 confirmed cases in Finland, no deaths so far (was 6 cases a little over a week ago). Most confirmed cases have been on winter holiday in Italy a couple of weeks ago. We're still focusing on stopping the spreading and locating exposed people, rather than giving up that and putting all effort into treating the patients. Corona is dominating the news cycle but other than that it's pretty normal, stores are well stocked, schools are open with a few exceptions, no city-wide quarantines etc.
As for personal work stuff, all upcoming business trips and large events have been canceled. Employer recommends washing hands often and staying home at first hint of sickness.
2 weeks off for schools and universities in Azerbaijan,closed border with Iran, all celebrations of Novruz (21 of march, kinda new year, spring coming holiday) canceled.
Seattle Public Schools closed yesterday (I believe a 2-week minimum). I think all the colleges have already suspended classes. Noticeably more children out and about in the streets in my neighborhood (very residential).
The largest restaurant hospitality group in the city, Tom Douglas Restaurants, closed 12 of their 13 locations for a minimum of one month, leaving 800 jobless. Lots of rumors about other groups following suit. My company hasn't communicated any of that to mid-low level managers (me), though we are taking a ton of action in regards to slow sales and, obviously, cleanliness. One of the longest-standing, highly regarded fine dining restaurants in the city suspended regular service. They're setting up a breakfast counter, lunch drive-thru, and dinner delivery service to keep staff employed and people safer. People still aren't talking about how frequently restaurant staff are forced (nee encouraged) to work while ill.
I've noticed a heavily increased police presence in the city in general. More patrols in my neighborhood (where I rarely see squad cars) and lots of SWAT vans visible out and about. Palpable tension in retail stores like Target, huge swaths of empty shelves in cleaning supplies, first aid, cold/flu care, people moving through the aisles quickly, quietly.
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