Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic likely a business killer

The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic has been deadly for thousands of people, but it also likely will kill many businesses.
Government orders have closed movie theaters, bars, restaurants, sports and entertainment venues as well as retail stores deemed non-essential. Millions of workers have lost their jobs as a result.
VIP Cinema Holdings, which makes reclining seats for movie theaters, is shutting down for good after economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic made a proposed restructuring impossible, the Wall Street Journal reported March 30.
Media companies that rely on advertising have been hammered as companies pull back on ad spending.
BuzzFeed News described the Covid-19 pandemic as “a media extinction event.” The report said the decline in advertising revenue will see a spate of newspaper closures.
And many technology startups have seen business and funding dry up amid the crisis, which has rocked Wall Street and likely has pushed the U.S. into recession. Like the dot-com crash of 2000, only the strong will survive. Large tech firms will pick up intellectual property and engineering talent on the cheap during the downturn ahead.
Last week, satellite internet startup OneWeb filed for bankruptcy protection and cut most of its staff, after failing to secure new funding from investors including its biggest backer SoftBank. OneWeb, which previously had raised $3.4 billion, said it would seek a sale after filing for Chapter 11 relief, the Financial Times reported.
North, a maker of augmented-reality glasses that counts Intel and Amazon.com as investors, is looking for a buyer as it runs low on cash, Bloomberg reported. Rival AR headset maker Magic Leap also is looking for a buyer, it said.
E-scooter rental startup Bird last week laid off about 30% of its employees amid uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, TechCrunch reported. Rival Lime also is struggling, it said.
Driverless truck startup Starsky Robotics this month announced that it is shutting down and selling off its assets.
Among technology services I use, I worry that photo-hosting site Flickr might go under.
In December, the chief executive of Flickr owner SmugMug sent an email to users warning that the business was losing money and needed a boost in paying subscribers, the Verge reported.
“Flickr — the world’s most-beloved, money-losing business — still needs your help,” CEO Don MacAskill said. “We cannot continue to operate it at a loss as we’ve been doing.”
Things are probably even worse for Flickr today.

Photo: Covid-19 coronavirus. (AJC1 via Creative Commons)

Best movies and TV series about disease outbreaks

With the world in the grip of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, people have taken a renewed interest in movies and TV series about disease outbreaks.
What follows is my summary of the best-reviewed movies and TV series about epidemics and pandemics. The list includes films and series that attempt realistic depictions of disease epidemics and pandemics. In other words, no science-fiction movies about diseases from outer space or zombie outbreaks.
This list also excludes documentaries. These are the entertainment industry’s attempts to show disease outbreaks and their aftermaths. Let me know if I missed any good ones.

Best-reviewed disease outbreak movies, by % of positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

• And the Band Played On (1993), AIDS, 100%
• Panic in the Streets (1950), pneumonic plague, 96%
• The Normal Heart (2014), AIDS, 94%
• The Hot Zone (2019), miniseries, Ebola, 90%
• Contagion (2011), influenza, 85%
• Carriers (2009), airborne virus, 67%
• Containment (2016), U.S. TV series, unknown virus, 50%
• Outbreak (1995), unknown virus, 50%

Additional disease outbreak movies from IMDb, ranked by user ratings, 1-10

• Virus (2019), Indian movie, Nipah virus, 8.1
• Variola Vera (1982), Yugoslavian movie, smallpox, 8.1
• Cordon (2014), Belgian TV series, unknown virus, 7.4
• Epidemiya (2019), Russian TV series, unknown disease, 7.2
• Arctic Circle (aka “Ivalo”) (2018), Finnish TV series, unknown disease, 7.1
• Flu (aka “Gamgi”) (2013), South Korean movie, influenza, 6.7
• The Killer That Stalked New York (1950), smallpox, 6.4
• Yellow Jack (1938), yellow fever, 6.3
• The Hamburg Syndrome (aka “Die Hamburger Krankheit”) (1979), German movie, unknown disease, 6.3
• 93 Days (2016), Ebola, 6.0
• The Cleaner (aka “El Limpiador”) (2012), unknown epidemic, 6.0
• Pacific Liner (1939), cholera, 5.8
• The Plague (aka “La Peste”) (1992), bubonic plague, 5.8
• Outbreak: Anatomy of a Plague (aka “La Variole: Anatomie D’un Fleau”) (2010), plague, 5.8
• Plague City: SARS in Toronto (2005), SARS, 5.6
• Pandemic (2007), miniseries, bird flu, 5.1
• Contagious (1997), cholera, 5.1
• Runaway Virus (2000), influenza, 5.0

Photos: Movie posters from “Panic in the Streets” and “Carriers.”