The coronavirus could be dangerous for more for mature economies too

A coronavirus-driven short, sharp global recession risk is growing and investors are urged to take steps now to build and protect their wealth. The coronavirus seems to be having an effect on all aspects of the tech industry, from social media policies around health misinformation to the way the big companies do business.

If people stay home from school, stop traveling and don’t go to sporting events, the gym or the dentist, the economic consequence would be worse.

China’s authoritarian government can quarantine entire cities or order people off the streets in a way that would be hard to imagine in America and India.

It is a novel virus named for the crownlike spikes that protrude from its surface. The coronavirus can infect both animals and people and can cause a range of respiratory illnesses from the common cold to lung lesions and pneumonia. Twitters headquarters in San Francisco has asked employees to work from home, if possible.

Working from home is increasing globally

Twitter, LinkedIn and Microsoft have asked their employees to work from home, if possible. Together, the three companies employ more than 75,000 people in the United States.

Other companies are taking a more piecemeal approach. Google instructed employees at its Dublin office to work from home, after one person there possibly came into contact with the virus. Facebook’s employees in China are working from home, and the company has pulled out of several conferences and canceled appearances by its top executives at public events.

A number of companies, including Amazon and Apple, have asked employees to cancel nonessential travel to and from China. They have also restricted visitors to their offices, and asked employees who exhibit any sign of illness to stay home until they are screened for the coronavirus.

Tweaks to services

Tech companies in the service industry have scrambled to come up with policies on how to keep their work force and customers safe.

Uber and Lyft have seen an uptick in business, as people afraid of using public transportation rely more on hailing rides. It’s unclear, however, how much guidance the two companies are offering their armies of contract workers on how to stay safe. Uber has asked drivers to wash their hands, while Lyft pointed drivers to the recommendations made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Airbnb told hosts and guests affected by the coronavirus outbreak that they could cancel reservations without incurring a charge. So did TaskRabbit. At the same time , business has boomed for companies that offer services to help people conduct meetings online, such as Zoom and BlueJeans. Video conferencing equipment sales has increased dramatically.

Google announced that it was giving G Suite customers free access to the suite’s advanced features. These include the ability to hold virtual meetings with hundreds of participants, or stream live events to tens of thousands of people. Microsoft also announced that it was offering six-month free trials of Teams, a product to help employees video chat with one another.

Tackling misleading informations:

Social media companies began an aggressive response to misinformation related to the coronavirus.

Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, outlined what his company was doing in a long post. He said Facebook was working closely with government groups like the World Health Organization. Any search for “coronavirus” on Facebook immediately directs people to the W.H.O. or local health authorities. Facebook has also pledged to give the W.H.O. unlimited free ads to share information about the coronavirus.

In addition, Facebook is removing misinformation about the coronavirus from its platform and Instagram, which it owns.

YouTube is also linking to the W.H.O. on the top of search results for the coronavirus. While videos spreading conspiracy theories on the coronavirus could still be found, they did not appear in the first page of search results for YouTube.

So go wash your hands for the full 20 seconds and show some more sympathy for the folks quarantined in China and elsewhere. Because if it spreads rapidly in anywhere in the country, it could be a heck of a lot worse.