No one talking about corona virus yet? - Thoughts on slowing down

G

GWidener

New member
Sort of surprised no one is discussing Covid-19 and the effects on their businesses/departments yet.

We are what could be considered a digital printshop/inplant focusing on print projects for various entertainment venues. A number of venues with larger capacities are now limiting capacities and many have just cancelled shows outright.

Overnight it seems that our business has come to a stand still.

Has anyone out there made plans for staffing? Pay options, layoffs, insurance coverage, etc? Any creative ideas?

Many of us have been affected by hardships created by natural disasters and terrorist events. Most of us have gotten through them stronger and more resilient.

This too shall pass.

As one of my co-workers keeps saying - remember to cover your month, don't touch your face and wash your hands.
 
We're operating as usual. Some clients (bigger organizations) have informed us that they're being forced to work remotely. They're asking us to do fulfillment work they'd normally do themselves.
 
I don't understand the panic. It's a Flu, not unlike any other Flu that normally occurs this time of year. Current mortality rates, world wide, is 3.4% (most of those being the elderly that already had underlying health issues). However, most viral experts put the actual mortality rate at mush less. The current rate is calculated by the number of hospitalized cases divided by the number who have died from it. The problem is, many of the people who have contracted the virus experienced symptoms so mild, that, there was no need to seek medical attention, therefore, those cases were not reported, so, are not reflected in the mortality rate calculation. Had they been, the mortality rate would be much, much lower.

To put that in to perspective, the mortality rate of the normal flu (H1N1 virus) is between 1% to 4%. The Bird flu, which ran it's course several years ago, had a mortality rate of 60% (however, it was much more difficult to contract it, as it was not passed from humans to humans).

What we have here is a media that has been sensationalizing it, in the middle of an election year. The current administration can not afford to be perceived as standing by and doing nothing, as, that may translate in to lost votes next fall. Then, as the snowball continues to roll down hill, and get bigger, large corporations, TV shows, and sports venues can not be perceived as being more interested in profit, than the well-being of the public. It's bad business.

Now, people are making runs on retail stores, wiping out supplies of hand sanitizers, wipes, paper towels, masks, toilet paper, and even canned and non-perishable food items. The stock market is plunging, and, people are afraid to go outside.

GET OVER IT PEOPLE! It's just the Flu. There is no amount of limiting social gatherings that will curtail it. It will be around until enough people have contracted it and built an immunity to it to where the virus has no more hosts to feed on. Then, it will subside, like it's already starting to do in China, where it originated from.
 
My operation is in a large cruiseship port, so we're in for a painful few months at a minimum. I'm also worried about machine parts shortages and vendor support being less available. On hte bright side, depending on how deep the recession gets, there may be opportunities to get better than usual pricing on new and used equipment.
 
Coronavirus is not the flu!
It is far deadlier than the flu. The mortality rate for coronavirus is around 3% to 4%. The flu’s rate is 0.1%. The flu virus typically sheds in the first two days after symptoms start, and this can last for up to a week. But a study in the Lancet this week, which looked at patients in China, showed that survivors were still shedding the coronavirus for around 20 days (or until death).
~from the MIT Technology Review
 
With all digital machines that are made in China when happens if you need parts that ship in boxes with air filled bags from China or Asia in general? Computer parts and products? Cars, Walmart products.
 
I echo above, Covid 19 is far deadlier than the flu. I'm in Ireland where we have just closed all schools, colleges, indoor gatherings of more than 100 people and outdoor gatherings of over 500 people. ALL sports are cancelled. At the moment till the end of March but we expect this to go into April. The fallout is going to be HUGE for people and businesses. People have basically gone into voluntary lockdown with fear. I'm young and thankfully all my family are healthy so not too worried about us getting it but I to am terrified of getting it and passing it to someone not capable of fighting it like my parents which IS THE STARK REALITY.

We were busy until this week and basically all orders have come to stand still. Every expo, drama show, meetings, events have been postponed or cancelled. NOBODY is eating out, all restaurants, bars and takeaways are near empty. Any travel plans are cancelled.

The reason flu has a low death rate is because humans have built up resistance to it. Hence few get it and most get over it. You can meet someone with flu and not necessarily contract it or carry it to pass on. We have no defense against Covid 19, so with minimal contact it gets passed around to everyone and people get sick. The healthy get over it and older or ill people are in serious trouble, with as it stands no way to medically assist them.

As i see it Ireland is on the same tracks as Italy but a few stations behind and the USA are a few stations behind us.
Yes of course the human race will get over it but there will be many fatalities until they do and the less a country does to curtail the spread until this cure is found the greater the number will be.

Good luck all.
 
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If anybody has access to Continuity of Operations for their company, you might be able to answer his questions or give him guidance.

Has anyone out there made plans for staffing? Pay options, layoffs, insurance coverage, etc? Any creative ideas?
 
So we can expect hundreds of thousands of dead here in the USA? If not, I don't see it being much of an issue. Remember SARS, Bird Flu, Zika, Swine Flu? They all were hyped and nothing happened. So you can see why I am skeptical that this is going to be different.

Talking about the mortality rate of anyone that wasn't healthy to begin with is asinine. That like counting suicides when when spouting gun deaths. It just shows people that you have an agenda and aren't giving them useful information.
 
kdw75 said:
So we can expect hundreds of thousands of dead here in the USA? If not, I don't see it being much of an issue. Remember SARS, Bird Flu, Zika, Swine Flu? They all were hyped and nothing happened. So you can see why I am skeptical that this is going to be different.

Talking about the mortality rate of anyone that wasn't healthy to begin with is asinine. That like counting suicides when when spouting gun deaths. It just shows people that you have an agenda and aren't giving them useful information.
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The measures to quarantine the disease are what is going to affect daily business. I, for one, am not concerned with mortality.
 
Whats the big deal? Just close your businesses for a month and help stop the spread. ;)
 
kdw75 said:
Whats the big deal? Just close your businesses for a month and help stop the spread. ;)
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If you're in New York or Washington, I would be concerned if you didn't. Elsewhere, that call has to be made on a case-by-case basis. It's a balance like many things. However, you cannot discount how contagious the disease is. I don't want my coworkers, clients or myself to get sick. If you think washing your hands and disinfecting will be enough to reduce the risk to 0, then I guess continue on business as usual.

Staying open is a non-0 chance of getting sick. It also leads to a non-0 chance of you infecting other people that snowballs even further.

Your call to make.
 
Here in Bavaria things are grinding to a halt, the borders are closed and holiday makers are being evacuated from risk areas, yesterday I took the bike thinking to hop over to Austria but got turned back.
And for anybody thinking that this is just a flu... it isn´t!
 
As infections increase, the impact will also be felt in terms of how print customers will choose to spend/budget their income: health-related supplies, food and daily living expenses and this will eventually impact allocations for "incidentals" such as print, signage etc., but it may not be felt immediately if your clientele is diverse enough. Work from home setups are hardly suited to our industry (graphic artists are perhaps the exception) as presses need operators on site. Border closures may have the most negative impact: shipping of jobs, supply chain and raw materials sourcing.
 
This is probably not a "politically correct" thought, but, it is the elephant in the room:

If you have an employee (or, multiple employees) who call in and say that they are symptomatic and must self-quarantine for 2 weeks, how many of you will pay those employees their normal salary for the 2 weeks they are out?

Adversely, I'm wondering how many employees will take advantage of the situation, and, falsely report to get 2 weeks paid away from work.?

It's a slippery slope..........................
 
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