This is Stage 1
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The coronavirus has hit TV newsrooms and this is really just the start.
Two staffers at CBS News have tested positive for the virus. Staffers in Nashville, Seattle, Washington, DC, Miami and other markets have been sent home to quarantine for 14 days and impacted stations are disinfecting the newsrooms.
But, here’s the deal.
This is really just the start of what is now being labeled a pandemic.
You can bet that more news people and likely hundreds more will come down with the coronavirus.
Outside of TV news, thousands if not hundreds of thousands here in the U.S. will be infected.
Right now, TV news is in stage 1 of their coverage and that means that each time a positive case pops up, news crews rush to the hospital where the patient is being treated and to the business or home of where the patient worked or lived.
Not long from now, there will be so many cases that TV will stop covering each individual case.
Then TV news will move onto stage 2 which is how the economy is shitting the bed.
The coronavirus is bad, real bad, but thankfully most that end up getting it and I can assure you that will either be you, or you will know someone that has it, will recover.
The coronavirus despite what Sean Hannity tells you is much worse than the flu. It will kill and have killed a lot of people, but for the most part, people survive.
Will the economy?
That is a much bigger question.
A few months ago, if I wanted to fly from Florida to Las Vegas, it was going to cost me over $625 bucks round trip. I looked last night and I can make the trip for under $200. And despite the rock bottom price, there is no way I would get on a plane right now.
The travel industry is being hit hard. Airlines are losing billions of dollars.
Hotels are as well.
As the virus continues to spread this will trickle down to other businesses. Go to a movie theater and you have it almost all to yourself.
Restaurants will be hit hard when people stop eating out.
The NBA is suspending the season right now.
It’s not that I worry about United Airlines as a corporation, I worry about the people that work for the airline. Those people will be impacted, just like the people that work the concession stand at the movie theater or the waiter/waitress at the local restaurant.
The NBA players make millions and will be fine. But what about all the people that work at the stadium that as of now don’t have a job? What are the freelance TV people that work on producing the games, that are now basically without a paycheck?
Many people will be laid off and out of work.
The unemployment office will be overwhelmed as laid-off workers will look to get their unemployment checks. The stock market will get hammered again today. People are standing back and watching their 401K’s dry up.
The story right now is the people that are coming down with the coronavirus, but the MUCH bigger story will be the impact of this virus.
TV news needs to cover this angle which will be something that will impact this nation for years to come.
A lot of people that likely almost never watch the news will be tuning into their local newscasts to get the story. You will see viewership go up.
Give the viewers the news they need and stop playing for ratings.
Yes, Tom Hanks has the coronavirus and yes every station will report this news on their newscasts. But how does this really have any impact on a single viewer?
Here’s a hint, it doesn’t.
It might just be time to stop reporting on every single person that gets the coronavirus and start moving onto stage 2 and see what we can do to lessen what will be a huge blow to our nation.
