I have never in my lifetime seen the starkly empty metal shelves in grocery stores; now gaping spaces that used to be well stocked with basic supplies. A run on toilet paper…really?  We are supposed to have a two-week supply of provisions on hand so who is buying up a year supply of TP and what does that have to do with coronavirus anyway?  Not to be outdone though, I picked up a 20-roll package about 10 days ago.  I promise that it was only one package.

More than the empty shelves, what struck me last week as I was in several grocery stores, was a sense of fear and uncertainty that was almost palpable.  I am sure I looked the same as those I saw around me; a determined yet slightly frantic look that said, “I’m not sure what I need to buy but I am determined to get it once I figure it out”.

I read everything that comes out on my phone newsfeed, somewhat obsessively I will admit.  I tell my husband that knowing the state of coronavirus stresses me less than not knowing.  I am not sure he entirely buys into my story but I’m sticking to it.

This week has been crazy.  The DOW was volatile this week and dropped 3500 points, the worst drop since 2009 when we were in a recession.  Major sporting events were cancelled, along with theme parks.

As we go into this coming week, our city is going into a mitigation mode.  Schools across the city will be closed for the next two weeks.  Even our church is going to be streaming its services for the next two weeks.  Events have been cancelled.

Groceries and businesses related to cleaning supplies have a spike up in revenue.  Toilet paper factories everywhere must be happy.  Small businesses (including ours) are gazing forward at the uncertainly in the days ahead and wondering how we are going to be affected.

We have only 4 employees besides my husband and myself.  Can we all stay healthy?  What if an employee exposes the rest of us to coronavirus and we all have to quarantine?  It would literally shut down our business. Our kind of business is based on light manufacturing.  I could work remotely but our production guys can’t.  What if one of them gets sick…or two of them?  How long can we pick up the work of ill staff?

Our production manager is going to a tournament next week in Las Vegas.  The event should have been cancelled but has not.  I’m sure that the event is still going ahead because of money and I’m going to call that for what it is…greed.  With the number of people that will be there from all over the country, it will be a breeding ground for exposure.  Coronavirus will almost certainly be there and any attendees will be playing the odds of whether they catch it.

I learned something this week.  We employers are not allowed to forbid an employee from going to an event on personal time, even if this event is likely to be a high-risk environment.  What we can do though is to ban this person from our business for the following week.  This will keep the person away for 9 days; hopefully enough time to know whether he is sick or not.  We probably should make him stay away for 14 days but that would mean in addition to the 4 days off he is already taking…we will just have to evaluate.

This is going to mean that the rest of the business will have to pick up his workload for the time he is at the event as well as the time that he is banned from the studio.  We can’t risk the exposure though so will have to get through it.

Our business revenue will drop in the short term because of what is going on.  Once we get through this, business will likely pick up very well which will compensate some for the drop now.  We just have to hang in there and survive the next few months.  I’m sure it is obvious that I am far more worried about the impact to our business than getting sick myself.

At our church this weekend, the pastor talked about praying for “our daily bread”.  We need to be praying for what we need today…not worrying about tomorrow, next week or next month as I always want to do.  My husband and I have seen answers to our prayers over the past couple of years for cash flow in the business; the next few months will be a ramped-up version of that.

The pastor described our prayers as being a little “off” sometimes due to our narrow-view human nature.  The example he used is “rain”.  It’s a downpour with thunder crashing around, lightning splitting the sky and we are getting soaked. Think of this coronavirus situation.  We say, “Lord, stop the rain!”  God gives us an umbrella and says, “This is my provision for you.”  We grumble back, “I don’t want an umbrella, I want the rain to stop!”  God says again, “Here is My provision for you.”  We grip the umbrella tightly and trust God that He knows best what to provide.

I’m gripping my umbrella tightly.  Bless all of you as you grip yours.

P.S. Just as I was about to publish this blog, we got word that our employee and his team have pulled out of the tournament.  Whew!