The pandemic has been going on for several months, and it seems as though some people don’t want to acknowledge it anymore. States like Florida, Arizona, and Texas have seen spikes in both cases and deaths. Now, California is seeing a spike, and several counties there which had reopened must close again for the public’s protection.
Many different businesses feel Covid-19’s impact, and some of them are barely sputtering along. Others are thriving. Let’s look at a few industries and what the current situation is doing to them.
1. The Auto Industry
Car manufacturers aren’t having the best year due to Covid-19. For many months, there wasn’t as much traffic on the roads because the circumstances closed many businesses. In lots of major cities, rush hour was practically nonexistent.
The one silver lining is that car accidents were down, as Ryan Zavodnick of Philadelphia’s Zavodnick, Zavodnick, and Lasky Law Office can tell you. Fewer car accidents mean fewer fatalities, which is always a good thing.
However, as the pandemic has gone on, car companies have gotten desperate, because fewer people have the money to buy. This is because:
- They’ve lost their jobs
- Their employers have reduced their hours
- They’re holding onto older vehicles rather than selling or trading them in
Car companies are running commercials offering 0% APR for several years. There are unheard-of deals right now for consumers, but no one wants to buy. It’s by no means certain what the car industry is going to look like next year.
2. Movies and TV
Lots of people are complaining about reruns right now, and with good reason. Most TV shows have had to suspend shooting of their fall season because the actors can’t be in the same rooms with each other. It’s going to be hard for an audience watching Law and Order SVU to lose themselves in the story if the main characters are all wearing masks.
The same goes for movies. Some movies in postproduction when the pandemic began can still get a finished product into theaters for public consumption. The problem is that many movie theaters are still closed.
Most states can’t say with any certainty when they will open the theaters, and many movies that were in the middle of production have had to shut down. The studios have postponed their release dates indefinitely.
The only new entertainment the public is likely to get in these areas will be animated shows like:
- Archer
- The Simpsons
- Family Guy
These should have no trouble coming back in the fall since the animators can practice social distancing and still create the show. The actors can voice the characters from studios, far away from danger.
3. Sports
Sports is another area that is in chaos because of Covid-19. Professional wrestling is one example.
The WWE, the most popular wrestling company in the world, is seeing declining rating numbers for their flagship, Monday Night Raw on the USA network. No one wants to check out a show with no fans attending. It’s just not the same.
Major League Baseball eventually got their act together enough to start running some games with no fans. Still, half the Miami Marlins caught Covid-19 because the players did not have the discipline to wear masks and practice social distancing.
Basketball has started up again. It seems as though they might be able to get away with playing through to the end of the season because the players, coaches, and other staff members are living and working in a bubble, and they’re taking tests every day.
The biggest question mark going forward, though, is professional football. It is far more popular and makes way more money than baseball, hockey, or basketball.
America wants it back, but the players won’t be in a bubble. They’ll be flying from city to city to play one another, and they’ll be slamming into each other because that’s what the sport demands. It seems like a disaster in waiting.
4. Education
Education is another area where the pandemic is shaking things up. That’s true at all levels, from grade school to college.
The Trump administration is pushing hard for grade school kids to go back to school, and some of them are. In Georgia, a picture recently went viral of teenagers packing a hall, jammed in like sardines, with almost none of them wearing masks.
This is, frankly, terrifying. The kids can catch Covid-19, and even though they don’t seem to die from it as much as older adults, statistically, it will probably kill at least a few of them.
Besides, some might catch it, stay asymptomatic, and then take it home and give it to their older relatives. Because of the pandemic’s politicization, some parents tell their kids not to wear masks to school. It could be fatal for the kids, parents, or both.
Colleges are trying to figure out if they can hold in-person classes in the fall. Each one is making their own decision since there is no government or CDC mandate. There is so much contradictory information that it’s hard for students to know what to believe.
Wall Street is feeling Covid-19’s impact, as is the real estate market. Some of the only companies that seem to be thriving include Amazon and food delivery services like GrubHub and Uber Eats.
It’s difficult to say where all of this is going. Many individuals report feeling stressed like never before.
Even the calmest and most focused are having a hard time staying the course. There is a strange, dystopian feeling when you go to the grocery store, and you see everyone wearing masks and trying to stay away from each other.
Infectious disease experts expected this to happen. Many felt that it was inevitable. But now that we are living in the thick of it, only one thing seems clear.
After this, nothing is going to be the same again. Covid-19 is shaking many industries to their very core, and some of them might never recover.
