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Old Posted Mar 5, 2020, 7:06 PM
austlar1 austlar1 is offline
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Join Date: May 2007
Location: Austin
Posts: 3,428
How Is Covid-19 Impacting Life in Your City?

I am starting this thread here in City Discussions because I think it would be interesting and informative to learn about the impact of the corona-virus threat on a local level as the disease makes its way across the globe. How are folks reacting on a local level? What is the impact on daily life where you live?

Here in Austin there have been no reported cases yet. Two days ago it was announced that one possible case was being investigated, but there has been media silence since those initial reports.

The big news is that as of today the SXSW tech conferences, film, and music festival is still likely to happen. Major corporate sponsors and participants, including several tech giants, have pulled out, and a petition with over 30,000 signatures has been circulating asking the festival management to cancel the event, which draws in tens of thousands of attendees (overall attendance including music events is in the hundreds of thousands over 10 days) from around the country and the world in a normal year. Several newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, have also editorialized in favor cancelling. The economic hit to Austin would be huge with a revenue loss of at least a third of a billion dollars estimated. SXSW officials and local politicians are cautiously optimistic and say the show will go on.

Meanwhile, life around here is happening as usual. A few germaphobes (mostly seniors like me) are taking precautions, but most people seem pretty convinced that they won't be impacted. I suspect that is likely to change a bit once we get our first few local cases. I was planning an April trip to NYC. Now I am not so sure that I want to go.

Anyway, hopefully others will jump in and post about what's going on in their neck of the woods as we head into uncharged territory with this scary bug. What are the medical, social, and economic implications in your home town?
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