I just borrowed several movies from the library, I'm going to top off my tank tomorrow, and I bought my parents what they needed from the store for the next week. I'm fine with staying in... for the time being. Oh, and the big box hardware chains are totally out of any kind of respirators (like filtered masks for spray painting), and my local stores are limiting purchases of toilet paper and Kleenex. It wasn't total zoo, but it was far busier than a normal Thursday afternoon. Hope nobody was planning on starting that spring restoration paint job on the old caboose or coach (required preservation content).

Welcome to the internet. You don't get to control what other post after you, unless you're a mod on said forum...

Yes, Princess Cruises is canceling all cruises for two months. Press release here: Princess Cruises Announces a Voluntary and Temporary Pause
Lead-off paragraph says:If the suspension is no longer than this time period it should not affect the typical Alaskan tourist season. However, if patronage is below the normal that will affect the sale and service income in Alaska.

I have "a horse in this race" as I'm booked on an Princess Alaskan cruise departing May 16th.

It really doesn't matter if you think the reaction to this - now official - pandemic is overblown political fake news. Life is not fair. Avalanches don't care who started what.

Reality has overcome such opinion.

The US Stock market has fallen enough to qualify for bear status.

My son's college has already extended Spring Break by a week -- with who knows what future restrictions are in the pipeline. My daughter's employer has cancelled classes and sent folks packing. So have a significant number of other schools in Pennsylvania.

Social media is full of stories demonstrating restaurants, movies, bars, transportation services etc. experiencing large declines in patronage. Folks are being laid off big time. Like it or not, they are unlikely to have disposable income to come and visit your museum.

Since many places here depend on visitors to add a few bucks to the kitty, preparations are in order.

Brian

Edit:

Disney Parks California has announced a shutdown period:

https://twitter.com/DisneyParksNews/sta ... 04/photo/1

Anyways...

So maybe an effort can be made at community outreach during the virus? Just because there are going to be many museums shutting down for some time; maybe they could encourage digital fundraisers... Try and reach out to their fans and build up some small reserves to help kickstart things once the virus is over and they can open up again.

Son wondered how well received a streamed cab ride and donation channel might work. The couple of bucks per person viewing might not sound like much, but if people will pay Twitch $3 to yell at a gamer, bored housebound railfans might toss in as much for a virtual cab ride, steam or diesel.

I just tried to imagine a Twitch stream in the video game style, but applied to a virtual cab ride:

"Hello Twitch, this is your boy here at the Nevada Northern Railway. We're umm; gonna go ride the high rail today. You know, get some umm rail mileage in, see what the rails look like from the cab of this beauty. Make sure to like and comment, and check out our YouTube channel, Twitter page, Facebook page and join our sweet Discord server if you want to chat with Dirt himself. Hit that donation box and join our Patreon!"

Arkansas Railroad Museum Pine Bluff, Arkansas is now closed to at least April 7.

Yes, all the jokes about aging rail museum volunteers apply.

We were not the first, we were following the lead of others. Jefferson County, where the museum is located, is effectively shut down already. The schools are all out, county offices closed, and the main hospital is on partial lockdown due to the fact they have a confirmed COVID-19 positive case in their isolation ward.

One thing that seems to be coming out, is that children have a high rate of infection, and a low rate of symptoms, meaning they are really good at spreading the virus. Add in the fact we tend to congregate children in schools and museums, etc, and you have a disaster.

Disclaimer-the real facts in this outbreak seem to be evolving, but there is no question limiting contact and being clean will help slow this down.

Here in the UK, yesterdays Govt announcement was not as bad as was being expected, so to date only one rail museum has actually decided to shut down "for the duration" that I am aware of (Mangapps Rly Museum in Essex).
A considerable number of others have, however, indicated that they are watching the situation very closely, and my guess is that in another weeks time things will be very different.
Depending on how long this all lasts for, it may end up pushing some of the "borderline" preservation (both rail and road) operations beyond the point of no return,

The data I posted earlier came from China's CDC; I have since edited my post and added a citation. China's data is consistent with what seems to be happening in Italy and the US -- Georgia's first fatality was 67 years old.Here's a March 6, 2020 article on Live Science that cites two more studies from China: Kids do get the coronavirus — they just don't get as sick

My understanding (I'm not a doctor or other medical professional) is that older adults (over 60) come down with a severe pneumonia that is only survivable if the person is put on respirator. Closing schools and businesses is about slowing the outbreak enough so that EMS and hospitals will not be overwhelmed with patients.

I might suggest; "The Stand", "World War Z", and "Zombieland" as titles appropriate for the current situation...

Southern Arizona Transportation Museum is considering whether to go ahead with the annual Silver Spike ceremony or not. Most of the public venues here are postponing all events. The county Department of Education has not closed schools but is watching the situation closely. The only large event that has not canceled yet is the Pima County Fair-no directives regarding large events have been issued at the state level but several municipalities are recommending large public events be postponed or canceled.

About 24 hours ago, there was a twitter post that said kids were referring to Covid-19 as the "Boomer Remover. The hashtag #BoomerRemover quickly went trending/viral (in the online sense.)

It is an awful phrase, but being aware of it might make your deliberations about closing easier.

(I also wonder if seeing the phrase trending is what it took to convince the world's most powerful Twitter to make an emergency declaration?)

Be like W C Fields - internal cleansing with alcohol and avoidance of children is reasonable for boomers in good health. If your hands are clean, touch your face if you want to. If you are covered with railroad grime, it may be a protective layer....... this is a good time to catch up on those things tat you haven't made time for like figuring your taxes anyhow.