Today's blog post is by our guest blogger, Brian Reeves, of Reeves Delivery Group.
By Brian Reeves, Reeves Delivery Group
MANAGERS WHO RUN ESSENTIAL BUSINESSES NEED TO BE RECRUITING HUGE NUMBERS OF NEW EMPLOYEES TODAY, JUST IN CASE THINGS GET 50 TIMES WORSE.
IF this Coronavirus started here in the US from a few people and spread to where we are today, will a few months of social distancing ACTUALLY defeat the virus?
If it’s seasonal, maybe it sputters out.
If more people have it than we realize, maybe the immunity will build among us, and it will run its course.
If a pharma company develops a vaccine, the most vulnerable get the vaccine, protect themselves, and the number of deaths is minimized. The rest of us resume normal work and if we get it, we fight it off, a few will die, but life and the economy goes on.
If social distancing allows more masks and ventilators and expansion of capacity by hospitals, then maybe they are prepared to treat more people and minimize deaths in the coming weeks and months until the virus runs it course.
And let’s hope all the above occur to the best possible outcomes and quickly!
But what if it isn’t seasonal? What if it doesn’t build sufficient immunity to run its course? What if it is so devastating that hospitals still can’t keep up with capacity? What if social distancing fails to stop it?
What if we are only slowing the spread and we try to resume normal life and it rears its head worse than now? What if the open back up by Easter goal, and the open up by May 1st goal, are all just stated to give the masses hope that things get back to normal, to prevent rebellion and chaos. What if the reality is, that if we open on May 1 or June 1 or July 1, that the virus takes back off and we aren’t any better off than a month or 2 ago? What if the reality is, that the only way to stop this with social distancing is that the social distancing has to be even more extreme and last for 2 years?
What happens then?
Today, around 5000 people in the US have died from COVID 19. The experts are saying if we continue to do well at social distancing, ONLY 100,000 to 240,000 will die here in the US. That means this will get 20-48 times worse.
If you employ 30 people and already have 3 employees sick or in quarantine today, how many will you have sick or in quarantine when this gets 20 times worse. The answer is quite possibly - ALL of them.
The only employees you would have are the ones who had COVID-19, confirmed, and recovered from it. They would be the only ones with immunity and safe to work. Where does that leave your customers and the essential goods and services you supply?
To be prepared for a worst-case scenario, the best use of time by Managers today, is to allow a few NON-ESSENTIAL goods and services to go unfulfilled, (if necessary).
Managers must go to their computers and phones and RECRUIT ALL DAY LONG. To have applicants that double, triple, or quadruple the current staff, in numbers, applying this week, may be the only thing that keeps customers receiving the essentials next week or next month or 6 months from now.