Businesses and the Coronavirus: Adapting to a Health Crisis

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Background Information

COVID-19, otherwise known as coronavirus, has drastically reshaped the world we live in. In the United States alone, there are over 150,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus. Businesses throughout the country have utilized strategies of working from home and, relevantly, universities have made the transition to online instruction. Some businesses and entrepreneurs have had to reshape their business models to fit the current needs of the community. With much of the country having stay-at-home orders, and the fear of leaving your home being very real, businesses have transitioned their services to adapt to these concerns. The technology industry has underwent changes, but so too has every day services like fitness and grocery shopping.

Fitness

Gyms throughout the country have closed its doors following statewide stay at home orders. However, the gym and fitness sector are bringing workouts to your home. For example, Planet Fitness, one of the largest chain gyms in the country, began streaming online workout classes on March 16. Monday through Friday, Planet Fitness offers a free, daily virtual fitness class on the Planet Fitness Facebook page for people to access. The videos can also be found on YouTube to be streamed. Smaller gyms and workout programs also offer online fitness classes, including AR30 which is a  virtual fitness program that offers virtual gym sessions via, our favorite, Zoom.

Furthermore, a Facebook spokeswoman stated, “By March 18, the number of home workout posts on Instagram from the United States had increased by more than five times compared with just a few days earlier.” Another spokeswoman for YouTube provided, “On YouTube, average global daily uploads of videos with “workout at home” in the title increased more than 57% from March 10 through March 15.”

Pick-up and Delivery Services

Restaurant and grocery delivery services have also seen a huge increase. Many restaurant dining rooms are closed, but restaurants still are able to offer carryout and delivery. Instacart, a company that offers home deliveries of groceries and other goods that are ordered through an app, announced that it plans to “bring on an additional 300,000 full-service shoppers across North America over the next 3 months to meet the increasing customer demand for online grocery delivery and pickup in the U.S. and Canada.” Furthermore, Instacart, Walmart Grocery and Shipt hit a record for daily downloads of their apps. Instacart has seen an increase of 218%, Walmart Grocery increased 160%, and Shipt saw an increase of 124%.

Other Examples of Businesses and the Coronavirus

  1. Zoom stock is up 20% in the last month.
  2. Promobot released a robot in New York City that asks people questions to determine whether they have symptoms of the coronavirus. (See link 7 for a video).
  3. There has been an increase in companies attempting to integrate thermal imaging capabilities in their products. This essentially allows someone to have their temperature taken from a distance.
  4. High-tech disinfectant devices have seen an increase in popularity. For example, Emist offers an electrostatic disinfectant to combat the coronavirus. (See link 9 for a photo and more information on this contraption).

As we can see, communities and businesses are coming together and adapting to the health crisis we are currently in. With some reworking, businesses are attempting to stay afloat when no one is leaving their homes by adapting to what consumers need.

Questions

  1. How do you anticipate legal services to adapt overall?
  2. How do you believe the pandemic will bolster or hinder entrepreneurship and innovation going further?
  3. A few weeks ago we had a presentation on work from home options (“WFH”). How will businesses converting to WFH during the pandemic impact WFH options going forward?

Links

  1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2020/03/29/how-these-female-entrepreneurs-are-using-technology-to-thrive-amidst-covid-19/#2e29f135276e
  2. https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
  3. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/03/16/planet-fitness-offers-free-home-workout-classes-online/5062122002/
  4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/03/27/people-welcome-online-workouts-fill-gap-left-by-shuttered-gyms-studios/
  5. https://news.instacart.com/expanding-our-community-of-household-heroes-a-thank-you-from-apoorva-mehta-instacart-ceo-3e596b5d05a9
  6. https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/16/grocery-delivery-apps-see-record-downloads-amid-coronavirus-outbreak/
  7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn_fBlyn7YI
  8. https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/3/11/21174720/coronavirus-amazon-robots-air-purifiers
  9. https://www.emist.com/
  10. https://www.consulting.us/news/3945/ey-five-strategies-for-businesses-to-lessen-coronavirus-impact (Header photo).

2 thoughts on “Businesses and the Coronavirus: Adapting to a Health Crisis”

  1. I ran across this article yesterday which speaks directly to your first question – how will the legal field adapt after this pandemic? My prediction is that certain legal services will need to be in person still (such as depositions and court hearings) but I think that lawyers and clients will be more comfortable with virtual conferences and meetings after this pandemic.

    https://www.bloomberglaw.com/document/X2ORSF9K000000?link=eyJjdHh0IjoiQ1ZOVyIsImlkIjoiMDAwMDAxNzEtMTczNi1kN2ZiLWFiNzMtMTczZTg5ZDIwMDAxIiwic2lnIjoicHMvcFR0NmVudDZ6VUg0SUNoeC8zS2tTOFg4PSIsInRpbWUiOiIxNTg1NTkyMTYwIiwidXVpZCI6ImdVOGcwejdCRVg5MVZtdlM5QU1ZWWc9PXFRc0VEZzFvdHVrVWwvZW5CSlRCd1E9PSIsInYiOiIxIn0%3D