Closed, Canceled, Suspended, Postponed, etc.
Today has been a big day for cancellations and closures. Most of Disneyland is closing. Concerts are being postponed. The NHL has suspended the hockey season. Major League Baseball has canceled spring training and delayed the season opening by at least 2 weeks. The NCAA, which yesterday announced that the March Madness college basketball tournament would continue as planned, but without fans allowed in, has now canceled it. (Apparently what changed their minds is that some athletes and officials have tested positive for Coronavirus, and several sports arenas are closing.)
Schools are closing, too. In the US it's piecemeal, with various cities closing their public schools and a few states closing at the state level. Overseas, some countries are closing schools nationally. Update: On Friday, 13 March, school closures in the US became widespread.
Closer to home, a professional trade show Hawk purchased tickets to attend in two weeks has finally canceled. I say "finally" because industry trade show cancellations started happening back in late February. The organizers of this show held out until today to make the decision.
I suspect their reason for delay was money. If they canceled the show, they'd be on the hook for costs. They'd have to refund ticket purchases- these tickets are expensive, BTW; north of $2000! - and they likely have significant nonrefundable costs for the venue, catering, site staff, etc. A big company can fade these costs more easily to "do the right thing"; this is a small company that may not have planned well for such a risk. Possibly they waited for cancellation to forced upon them by the venue closing or county or state government intervention. Then someone else would be on the hook for the costs, likely through an insurance policy with a force majeure clause.
"Couldn't Hawk just not go to the tradeshow even if they don't cancel?" you might ask. Sure, she could. She's been watching their website daily for updates the past few weeks, and discussing it with me every few days in light of the latest health news to evaluate the risk/reward of traveling. If she canceled before they did, she'd have to eat the cost! Of course, she didn't have to make a no-go decision until a few days before the show. "I'll keep monitoring the situation and make a final determination closer to the date," has been her strategy.
Schools are closing, too. In the US it's piecemeal, with various cities closing their public schools and a few states closing at the state level. Overseas, some countries are closing schools nationally. Update: On Friday, 13 March, school closures in the US became widespread.
Closer to home, a professional trade show Hawk purchased tickets to attend in two weeks has finally canceled. I say "finally" because industry trade show cancellations started happening back in late February. The organizers of this show held out until today to make the decision.
I suspect their reason for delay was money. If they canceled the show, they'd be on the hook for costs. They'd have to refund ticket purchases- these tickets are expensive, BTW; north of $2000! - and they likely have significant nonrefundable costs for the venue, catering, site staff, etc. A big company can fade these costs more easily to "do the right thing"; this is a small company that may not have planned well for such a risk. Possibly they waited for cancellation to forced upon them by the venue closing or county or state government intervention. Then someone else would be on the hook for the costs, likely through an insurance policy with a force majeure clause.
"Couldn't Hawk just not go to the tradeshow even if they don't cancel?" you might ask. Sure, she could. She's been watching their website daily for updates the past few weeks, and discussing it with me every few days in light of the latest health news to evaluate the risk/reward of traveling. If she canceled before they did, she'd have to eat the cost! Of course, she didn't have to make a no-go decision until a few days before the show. "I'll keep monitoring the situation and make a final determination closer to the date," has been her strategy.