MORE CORONAVIRUS FALLOUT

                   I have a fairly extensive speaking schedule around the world, and today it began to really collapse.  I can see things in April postponing, but one postponed that was scheduled for Oct. 24.  Really?  Does anyone think we're going to be in this situation Oct. 24?

             If we are, here is what will happen in our culture.  The hospitality industry will collapse.  Thousands of hotels, conference centers, and resorts will close up shop.  Restaurants will virtually cease to exist, except as drive throughs or take-outs.

             Restaurants are already closing, some for good.  The 50-plus that Polyface services use at least half of our egg production.  Restaurants closing are tossing out their eggs because they won't be used.  Supermarkets are out of eggs.  We can't get into the supermarkets so we're looking at tossing eggs--lots of them.  Tens of thousands of dollars worth.  When you have an entire sector of the economy shut down, it fundamentally changes lots of things.

             Mothballing cruise lines.  If they recover, it'll be years.  Airlines will receive a bail-out, but thousands of employees will lose paychecks and perhaps their jobs.  All of the support staff, from janitors in airports to vendors in airports to shuttle service drivers and parking attendants will be affected.

             Arenas, conference centers, and coliseums, concerts, stadiums--all the support staff, vendors, car parkers will be kaput.  Movies, none.  Classrooms, none.  Empty schools, empty colleges.  No Broadway, Las Vegas, Cirque de Soleil or night clubs.  No sports, no Olympics, no Trump rallies (he's the only one that attracts a crowd) and no political conventions.  How about that?  Many churches will eliminate Sunday services and go to live streaming, but they won't need a building anymore.  Neither will schools and colleges.  Countless buildings will not longer be needed.  the sudden realization that all this infrastructure, this bricks and mortar, is unnecessary will slowly dawn on the culture.

             Rush hour is gone, as is traffic congestion because nobody is going anywhere.  A lot of work is from home.  To accommodate distance learning and work we'll contract with Elon Musk's Space X to give every hovel in the country high speed broad band.  At that point, suddenly a rural domicile is possible and we can plant gardens.

             Yes, we'll plant gardens.  Thousands and thousands of them.  In cities, in suburbia, on housetops and patios.  The big shippers--UPS, FEDEX, Amazon--will quadruple in size.  Many if not most grocery stores will close--who needs them?  Big box stores will sit empty as everything moves to on-line purchasing.  Amazon already announced it's adding 100,000 jobs.  Today Polyface shipped out 51 boxes of food around the country--that's triple normal.

             Jails will fill with domestic abuse victims and drunks whose home-centric existence stimulates family wars and stress.  This is already happening.  What will it be like if it goes on for another few months?

             People will become obsessed with immune function.  Society's number one question will be "how do I stay well?"  Imagine that, for a change.  Trust in anything will plummet.  In their new insular position, people will become independent minded and realize they need to protect themselves because nobody else will.

             People will rediscover their kitchens, gardens, local farmers and personal responsibility.  I don't think our society is ready for this.  It would rather collapse than become like this. 

             What do you think will happen if things stay like this until Oct. 24?