For the last few days we’ve been preparing internal reports twice a day for staff. We’ve decided to release these publicly to help you plan. Video at bottom.

Cases today are up to 9,500 from about 6,500 yesterday AM and 9,000 yesterday PM.

As we’ve gone over, you can expect new cases to continue to rise and rise faster as tests and testing facilities get up to speed. This doesn’t mean that there are actually that many new cases. It just means that we know about them.

Graph from Worldometers

We’re far less concerned about the number of new cases than how our government and politicians respond to it. As we plan, we are focusing on the current and expected future responses. Italy seems to be about two or three weeks ahead of the US, and the coasts (San Francisco, LA, NYC) are about one to two weeks ahead of Tennessee. This is a broad statement, but reading the news from those areas will give you an idea about what is coming next.

Specific to East Tennesee: I’d be shocked to hear that we don’t have any cases in real life here. We’ve responded faster than other areas pre-testing but the thing to watch still is how politicians react when there is visibility into the situation.

Governer Lee of Tennessee has announced that SBA disaster loans will be available to Tennessee small businesses but they aren’t available yet. When they open up, apply.

Headlines this morning

The theme for all of the headlines this morning is that we are still haven’t felt the full brunt of COVID-19. There are more changes left in store for us.

Wuhan — the Chinese city where COVID-19 began, reports no new cases in the last day. You can count me skeptical that the number is actually 0, however, the data certainly is optimistic that cases are steadily decreasing in China as a whole.

China COVID-19 New Cases Graph from Worldometers

The Detroit Big Three are shutting down operations. Tennessee is integral to the auto supply chain, you should expect to see more Tennesseans laid off as a direct result. Also, I’d be surprised to see VW in Chattanooga stay open much longer.

US/Canadian border closing to people. The president promises that this won’t affect trade. Given that most private orgs had already restricted non-essential travel on both sides we don’t expect this to have a broader impact than COVID-19 already has.

Two members of Congress have tested positive for COVID-19. Not likely to affect anything today, however, long term implications if Congress allows votes from home are huge. Why would they even want to live in DC anymore if so?

The ENTIRE Georgia Senate is under self-quarantine after a member tested positive. Again, this illness has the potential to change the how of politics.

The WHO says to take Tylenol, not Advil and other NSAIDS for COVID-19 symptoms. Note: there is so little data behind any of these studies that a big grain of salt is always warranted.

At JM Addington we’re set to announce a new work from home plan later today that’s different than anything we’ve tried to do before. Beyond that, we have no new changes in internal plans.

That’s all the news that’s fit to type. Go forth and do good work.

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