Losers and winners in the Pandemic

In every situation there are Losers and winners and so is the case with this Pandemic. It is hard to say for now which will come on top and which will go under but a clearer picture is emerging slowly which may change in the future. Lets start with some Losers, which includes bars and restaurants, big live events, air travel and theme and entertainment parks, movie theaters and Broadway shows to name a few where there will be social distancing and hence less crowds to deal with. Although a good thing for the lucky few who manage to get into these areas but bad for the owners as they will lose out tons of money with less people coming in and the added costs of hiring people to clean their areas thoroughly and every day and even every hour to make sure their guests feel comfortable enough to come in and in turn get a good word of mouth when telling to their friends and relatives. Apart from the huge losses to live events like concerts and sports and also theaters and theme parks, and shows, they managers of these places will have to hire people just to make sure their customers maintain social distancing. Cleaning every thing after each show or event will entail huge amounts of business expense.

I don’t know how the airlines and other places used to packed houses and people on top of another will be able to sustain profit when they will have almost 50 percent capacity then before. They will either have to raise their prices or keep open for longer hours then usual. The movie theaters are in a precarious situation as people would not want to go there right now to sit beside a person who may or may not show the symptoms of the virus. In such a situation, there would be have to be some spacing done between each individual so as to make people ease of mind. But even if that happens, it will really take a long time to have a packed house full of people in a theater and Studios are adjusting to that by releasing movies to streaming web sites before they will hit the theaters or even bypassing it completely. Hopefully people will come back to enjoy theaters as the Drive in boom seems to be coming back which is a testament of people becoming hungry to come back to normal routine but in a small place it will be hard to have social distancing when the virus is still the rage.

The airlines are in a bit of a pickle too since social distancing is impossible in a confined place for a number of hours where you can’t go anywhere unless you land on the ground. And the idea of leaving the middle seat is also absurd as the planes will fly at a huge loss and to make up for the huge loss along with cleaning the planes thoroughly will not be feasible and some of the airlines may go out business if they are unable to innovate and find ways to either increase the prices of the seats exponentially or get more out of what is now free to force people to buy everything.

With unemployment so high, nobody is going to be in a mood to go shopping for non essential items especially handbags, clothing, jewelry and other stuff which you can make do without and last longer what you already have. As such department stores which cater to these items will struggle to strive but it seems the carnage is starting now with some well known name brands apply for Bankruptcy protection and the rest of it relying on online sales which will become more of a norm in the future as the Malls will be only for people who are bored at home and can’t go on vacations to socialize with a distance in these less than full places.Broadway shows in the U.S. are supposed to open in the fall, lets see how they fare as again they are in confined place and will have to make sure there is distance between people and thus will lose out much of the revenue due to empty seats.

The restaurants, bars and hotels are another place where will be bloodbath in terms of how many are going to survive. Although some restaurants are surviving on take out deliveries but it is not enough to make up for full in dining. Also the servers are losing out to all the tips since the delivery does not include tips. The bars are under severe pressure as I don’t believe they have even the option of take out and must rely on full open bars with noisy customers to make a profit. The hotels will survive as each room is in itself a self contained quarantine center but they will have to make sure that it is cleaned every day.

Sports arena are another big area where the virus can spread as they thrive on big crowds, people will return but it would not be the same crowds for a long period of time unless one takes precaution which will be hard in an area where people are very close by cheering on their favorite team.

Doctor offices and dental offices along with labs and other health providers are also going to take precautions especially the dental offices where the dentist and the staff can put on the mask but the patient has open up their mouths, I don’t know how this will work. I have been holding onto my dental appointments until this virus potency is reduced somewhat and I can safely open my mouth.

I am sure many places will be struggling too like gyms and swimming pools, day care centers, and any places where it is not that easy to replace it with work from home situations. As such it will be long time even after the vaccine is found, people will feel safe to venture into close areas since the vaccine will have to deliver to people and administered. So we are all in for a bumpy and unpredictable ride for the future.