I am used to work from my home office in Starnberg, near München, where also a few of the first German Covid-19 cases were reported. So, not much is changing for me except that shows, flights and meetings are cancelled, and I take care to protect myself as I reached 60 years of age.
Although still relatively few people infected with corona have been reported in Germany (5,381 today) the numbers are growing fast and follow the Italian curve. It’s just logical that preparations and measures to contain the virus pandemic are in full swing. Merkel expects that the infection rate could reach 60% of the populace in a worst case.Almost all federal states currently announce that the children are no longer allowed to go to school or daycare centers from Monday till the end of the Easter holidays (March 30 – April 14, 2020). This will be a major challenge for working parents.Additional restrictions on physical shopping or visiting cafes and restaurants are expected in the coming days and weeks.Chancellor Merkel recommends that everyone should take tough measures to avoid social contacts. There are no general restrictions nationwide, but the federal states set their own criteria for canceling major events.
In many companies, there have been travel restrictions for employees for some time and instructions are increasingly being given to employees not to come into the company but to work in the home office.Previously, almost all trade fairs that were to take place in Germany within the coming eight weeks have been canceled or “postponed” (Hannover Messe, Internet World Expo, ITB).The stock exchange prices (see DAX) have crashed by approximately 30% due to the spread of the corona virus.The supply chain for products that are dependent on supplies from China is disrupted and this leads to significant supply bottlenecks. E-commerce companies struggle when they have their warehouses in China or get the goods from there, and are looking for alternatives.At the same time, there are more and more cases of panic purchases by citizens, which mainly hoard basic food. This leads to significantly higher sales in the food industry, although figures are currently not available nationwide.According to a survey by DIHK (German Industry and Trade Association) among 10,000 companies, 47% of companies anticipate a drop in sales this year and more than 25% a larger loss in sales of 10%+. Some industries, such as the hospitality and travel industries, expect sales to drop by more than 75%! Ravaging.The corona crisis also leads to the increased production of e.g. hand disinfection devices such as Steripower, produced by a small company in my hometown.
Politicians assume that there will be severe burdens for the economy and the population in the next 2-3 months. The mobility of workers is increasingly restricted and the production goals can no longer be guaranteed. Childcare etc., which can be ensured at short notice by using vacation days, will lead to further burdens in the world of work.In order to avoid the bankruptcy of otherwise healthy companies and a sharp rise in unemployment in this situation, the following legal measures are currently being adopted:
There is an opportunity in every crisis. The digital industry should invest even more in digitization to make home office and web conference technology the operational standard. Achim Berg, President of Bitkom (branch association of the German digital industry)
There is an opportunity in every crisis. The digital industry should invest even more in digitization to make home office and web conference technology the operational standard.
We will see what further measures will be necessary for the next few days and weeks in Germany to survive the risk posed by the Covid-19 virus.
Read further: News, Research, covid19, ecommerce
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