Hi Folks,
I’m surprised this hasn’t come up yet. It is my opinion that today marks day 1 of US citizens and organizations taking this seriously. By this evening’s news cycle, we will learn that a WA high school was closed due to quarantine of a staffer’s immediate family. The individual in california whom is suspected of having the virus without international travel will be a repeat highlight. The virus is in 40 countries and the condition doesn’t present itself until one has casually infected surrounding individuals. A block of travel from asian countries will do nothing to stop the spread when infected countries are free and clear. Give it another few weeks. I don’t think that the US will see the casualty rate of other less equipped countries, but we will be making lifestyle changes and will feel the impact in our daily routine, as well as financially.
The leisure service industry is already taking the hit on travel. Expedia coincidentally (I really do think it is a coincidence) just laid off 12% of their workforce. United flights to asia are down by magnitudes, and other destinations like Korea are being added to the travel blacklist.
If you are currently employed - particularly if you are in a position with decision authority, ensure that your IT department is equipped to handle an entire office working from home. Folks in the east coast and midwest will have already experienced this with snow days - for better or worse. I happen to work for a tech savvy organization that can serve the entire employee base remotely. They are also quite in tune with the epidemic, but this I only represent my family and the broader IT industry in this post.
On the subject of snow days. Seattle grocery stores are emptied before the snow hits the ground. I am not overly concerned about catching the virus (yet), but I do expect food resources to become more challenging. I am part of the problem. I have asked my wife to pickup more dry and canned goods today, noting that the WA news will kickstart the stockpiling. Fortunately she makes amazing bread, and that is the first to go during our typical snow day grocery store clean out.
Personally I don’t think that we are overreacting, but I welcome the discussion. My wife is a microbiologist and happens to be quite passionate about viruses and infectious disease. A few weeks into the news cycle, we watched the film contagion which had an element of Hollywood doomsday to it, but does do a fairly good job of showing how viruses can spread quickly, and how different personalities respond.
Enough of the science fiction and grocery panic.
Some folks know that I am in the field of data & visualization. I am particularly impressed with this work, and will be following it closely.
~80K cases this week. Let’s see what it looks like next week. Keep your eye on this interactive map from John’s Hopkins.
gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com
I’m surprised this hasn’t come up yet. It is my opinion that today marks day 1 of US citizens and organizations taking this seriously. By this evening’s news cycle, we will learn that a WA high school was closed due to quarantine of a staffer’s immediate family. The individual in california whom is suspected of having the virus without international travel will be a repeat highlight. The virus is in 40 countries and the condition doesn’t present itself until one has casually infected surrounding individuals. A block of travel from asian countries will do nothing to stop the spread when infected countries are free and clear. Give it another few weeks. I don’t think that the US will see the casualty rate of other less equipped countries, but we will be making lifestyle changes and will feel the impact in our daily routine, as well as financially.
The leisure service industry is already taking the hit on travel. Expedia coincidentally (I really do think it is a coincidence) just laid off 12% of their workforce. United flights to asia are down by magnitudes, and other destinations like Korea are being added to the travel blacklist.
If you are currently employed - particularly if you are in a position with decision authority, ensure that your IT department is equipped to handle an entire office working from home. Folks in the east coast and midwest will have already experienced this with snow days - for better or worse. I happen to work for a tech savvy organization that can serve the entire employee base remotely. They are also quite in tune with the epidemic, but this I only represent my family and the broader IT industry in this post.
On the subject of snow days. Seattle grocery stores are emptied before the snow hits the ground. I am not overly concerned about catching the virus (yet), but I do expect food resources to become more challenging. I am part of the problem. I have asked my wife to pickup more dry and canned goods today, noting that the WA news will kickstart the stockpiling. Fortunately she makes amazing bread, and that is the first to go during our typical snow day grocery store clean out.
Personally I don’t think that we are overreacting, but I welcome the discussion. My wife is a microbiologist and happens to be quite passionate about viruses and infectious disease. A few weeks into the news cycle, we watched the film contagion which had an element of Hollywood doomsday to it, but does do a fairly good job of showing how viruses can spread quickly, and how different personalities respond.
Enough of the science fiction and grocery panic.
Some folks know that I am in the field of data & visualization. I am particularly impressed with this work, and will be following it closely.
~80K cases this week. Let’s see what it looks like next week. Keep your eye on this interactive map from John’s Hopkins.
