To start, there are a variety of resources available for up-to-date information surrounding coronavirus:
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Florida Department of Health
What Are the Short- and Long-term Implications of Coronavirus for People, Businesses, and the Government in Florida?
At this time, coronavirus is a matter of proactive risk management. Meaning, it is currently more effective, efficient, and economical to make efforts to prevent contracting the virus than it is to react to it. This, in turn, works best with the use of considered, implemented, and updated action checklists. A handful of examples of matters which can be addressed in those checklists are impact detection, human body decontamination, and personal property decontamination, ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ property transport and disposal, and ‘internal’ and ‘external’ communications ‘phone trees’.
It is time, then, to ‘get in front of the curve’, and to give thought to the following matters:
By individuals and families
- Update all health insurance policies
- Review all benefits (such as retirement) plans, including primary and successor beneficiaries
- Communicate with your doctors
- Eat, hydrate, and exercise sufficiently and properly
- Review your estate plan, will and/or trust, including care intentions for minor children
- Review your investment plans
- Calendar personal events of importance for the next few months
- Stay informed – but do not panic
By businesses (for-profit, non-profit, and government)
- Monitor all supply chains and identify backup vendors
- Review all insurance and benefits plans
- Update (or create) a leadership succession plan
- Update (or create) internal and external stakeholder communications plans
- Identify and secure all critical documents
- Routinely update all network software and backup all data
- Determine protocols for remote work
- ‘Field test’ all of the above and adjust as-needed
Another matter for all individuals, families, and businesses is to avoid engaging in or becoming a victim of price gouging, such as for facial masks, perishable and non-perishable food, medicine, ice, paper goods, and other needed supplies. With the passage of time, and an increase in knowledge about coronavirus, this currently unstable situation will resolve as to its unpredictability, and prevention, treatment, and resolution systems will come into place. So, as noted above, do not panic. Stay informed. Prepare in a rational manner. And as the first line of defense – wash your hands frequently.
* Derived from Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez.
1 By Thomas Payne, https://www.ushistory.org/paine/crisis/c-01.htm.
2 See https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/world/coronavirus-maps.html.
3 See https://www.who.int/csr/sars/en/, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
, where he practices in the areas of business, banking, real estate, and equine law. He has taught business and real estate law courses at the University of Florida Warrington College of Business Administration and Levin College of Law and is the President-Elect of the Eighth Judicial Circuit Bar Association.
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NOTICE: The article above is not intended to serve as legal advice, and you should not rely on it as such. It is offered only as general information. You should consult with a duly licensed attorney regarding your Florida legal matter, as every situation is unique. Please know that merely reading this article, subscribing to this blog, or otherwise contacting Bogin, Munns & Munns does not establish an attorney-client relationship with our firm. Should you seek legal representation from Bogin, Munns & Munns, any such representation must first be agreed to by the firm and confirmed in a written agreement.
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