Headlines March

The month that the Corona virus was discovered in the Netherlands. 
As in many other countries the COVID-19 virus spread rapidly in the Netherlands. Also in the Netherlands we felt the pain of the Corona virus. The impact worldwide was huge. Hospitals were crowded with patients, many people died. Shortage of medical equipment. Shares on the stock market declined with almost 30% in a few days. High schools, restaurants, hairdressers and all places were people had to work close to each other were closed for weeks. Airline traffic in- and outbound was postponed. Concerts, sports, holidays TV shows etc. were cancelled. People had to stay home, the elderly were not allowed to leave their rooms in nursing homes. The impact was so widely spread even in the supply chain and customers postponed buying of goods. 

After a certain date this month the normal BCM related incident changed to a lot of Corona incidents. Below a view of them.
  • Nike headquarters Hilversum Netherlands closed for a few day due to Corona virus
  • Possible new corona infection Maasstad Hospital, IC temporarily closed
  • Ten employees of the Beatrix hospital in isolation
  • Beatrix Hospital Gorinchem closed to due a patient infected with coronavirus
  • No new patients to IC Red Cross Hospital Beverwijk due to corona
  • Employee OLVG hospital in Amsterdam infected with coronavirus
  • Patient in intensive care unit RKZ Beverwijk tested positive for coronavirus
  • Tansavia cancelds flights to cities in northern Italy
  • Hospital staff in Eindhoven, Breda and Den Bosch are also infected with corona
  • Second corona patient at company in Coevorden
  • Employee at Wageningen University infected with corona
  • Employee Tata Steel infected with coronavirus
  • Employee Breda University infected with coronavirus
  • 28 employees of Tilburg hospital infected with coronavirus
  • Employee Friesland Lease Drachten possibly infected with coronavirus, company sends part of employees home
  • Two Radboudumc employees infected with coronavirus
  • Hundreds of thousands of euros impact as a result of Coronavirus for WTC Expo Leeuwarden
  • Martiniplaza closes Wonen & Co event as a result of measures against Coronavirus
  • KPN closes all stores in Brabant after contaminating two employees

More impact
This virus had much more impact than the SARS virus. When the SARS virus was announced I developed for organizations plans to continue their business and to tell their employees to and what not to do in case of a pandemic. After completion there was no necessity to activate the plans.  Maybe we had luck then!

Existing pandemic plans
The problems that the COVID-19 brought with her are so enormous we can asked our self “would these plans work in these circumstances”. Some did, some not. Banks could divide employees over two locations. Other organizations sent their employees at home. As much as possible they tried to work from home.

Crisis Communications opportunities
What also was seen, that there was a lot of job opportunities for Crisis Communications. Were organizations not enough prepared to manage and communicate this crisis?

Good initiatives
But there were also good initiatives taken to help and mitigate the impact.
  • Bavaria takes beer from tanks at the catering industry, turns it into disinfectants and distributes it free of charge
  • Holiday homes are made available to nurses so that they do not have to travel.
  • Hotels are set up to receive patients or help homeless people.
  • The value of the internet and the digital highway is seen by many. Teachers were able to give their students lessons using video app's and other (sometimes) free tools. 
​
Applause for everyone involved in controlling the impact of the virus.



Translated from Dutch to English with Google translate