The New Normal?
Shoppers going crazy?
This post won’t tell you anything new or different? The reality is that the world we are living in is fluid and in constant flux. The Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is here and every day we see more and more challenges in our personal life.
I think it’s normal to evaluate it within our own context which simply means how does it impact you personally. However, after a few moments of reflection we should realize that having our day-to-day life upside down is not really as bad as we think and we are very lucky and things could be a lot worse.
Photo Credit - Financial Times
I first started to think about this virus in early February as the media started to report that a large number of China’s factories remained closed even though the holiday (Chinese New Year) was over and people were supposed to report back to work. My own personal experience of traveling to China and working with suppliers told me that in the best of times the factories can take time to get back up and running as its normal that not all workers do come back to work.
During the crisis the Chinese Government ordered all factories to remain closed longer than normal and no doubt many workers would be reluctant to come back to work. Friends of mine started to ask me what this would mean to business? Given that my crystal ball is always a bit cloudy, I suggested that the supply chain likely will be impacted at some point in time. That new iPhone that you would want to order in May or June might actually not be on the shelf! So, as I said at the beginning we often look at things in our own context. Not being able to get a new phone or whatever later this year is not really a 3rd world problem. But if you catch my drift - the supply chain will be impacted and it won’t simply be products coming from China.
Of course every day we learn about more and more issues. Many countries are now closing their borders and are advising people to come home as soon as possible. Depending where you came from you may or may not have to do some sort of self-isolation.
My tennis club sent out a very good email asking members to not come to the club for 7 days if they have been outside Ontario and for 14 days if they had been in what is considered the hot zones. I first read it and thought - no big deal, I can still go. But no I can’t because immediate family is included and so I’m out.
I had hoped to go to the YMCA to work out today but they announced they were closing for the next few weeks. All around us public places are closing - stores are reducing their hours, museums/art galleries are closed and the schools have extended the March break by an additional two weeks.
The family has tickets to see Hamilton at the end of April - so who knows?
Line ups at O’Hare Airport in Chicago
Unfortunately, the crisis has created a panic and consumers (including me) are out there buying up more than they need. Since we don’t have a full-size freezer we are limited and that’s a good thing. Try finding hand sanitizers? I’m sure we now have enough toilet paper for the next 10 months. I was out on Saturday doing some grocery shopping and the aisles were almost empty in some sections. The roads seemed very quiet and my guess is a lot of people will be working from home if they can.
I honestly can’t recall all the issues with SARS but this seems to be a lot worse. Yes, we can’t do the normal things we are used to but it’s much more important that people stay safe and hopefully we can get through this quickly and safely.
I have even learned a new phrase- “Social Distance”
There are lots of things we all can do - read a book, go for a walk and believe it or not time will pass. So, please be safe everyone follow the advice of the public health officials.
