Industries in the US Strongly Affected by Coronavirus

Thinking of the harms of COVID-19, you might immediately recall the numbers filling hospitals and urgent care facilities around the world that you have heard from all sorts of news and reports. Nevertheless, besides the medical field, there are other industries that have been heavily hit by COVID-19. The damage done to these industries could cause tremendous catastrophic consequences in the US economy.

The Restaurant Industry

The restaurant industry has been afflicted by the spread of the pandemic. Since few states allow gatherings of people, most restaurants are not allowed to be open besides for take-out orders. With very few customers, a lot of restaurants must close—not just temporarily but also permanently—since they cannot afford rent without any source of income. Furthermore, waiters, waitresses, and other restaurant staff face a dilemma of becoming unemployed with minimal job opportunities opening in their industry.

The Transportation Industry

According to CNN, over 20 states have implemented a policy that forbids non-essential travel. With people staying inside, there is less and less demand for travel services. This means pick-up services like taxies, buses, and companies like Uber will either be reduced by a large extent or completely shut down. Most public transportation services have also ceased during the pandemic as a result of the ban.

Tourism

There are several sub-branches belonging to the more general category of tourism: the scenic spots' industry, the hotel industry, the tourism service industry, and, most notably, the airline industry. In order to prevent transnational spread of COVID19, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has closed the US borders from foreigners, leading to a drastic decrease in international flights. As a result, large-scale airline companies are suffering detrimental losses.

Furthermore, there will be fewer profits made from visitors travelling to places of interest that pay for entrance. For government owned destinations, fewer visitors equal less government revenue. For privately owned destinations, fewer visitors may lead to bankruptcy should the need for quarantining extend into the next few months.

The stock industry

The stock industry is trending no differently than the aforementioned industries. The pandemic will cause individuals and businesses to develop negative concerns regarding the economy and the stock market. When in doubt, stockholders tend to keep their money in their pockets and withdraw their investments into the stock market. The retraction of funds has the potential to cause a great regression in the stock industry.

Most notably, after President Trump hinted at a recession, the Dow Jones index dropped 12.9%, triggering the "circuit breaker mechanism" of the stock market. Businesses and individuals lost 10% of their stock investment overnight.

Heavy Industries in the Secondary Sector

Heavy industries in the secondary sector involve car wheel production, building construction programs, furniture production, and so on. As the government has forbidden factories in these fields from running production work, lots of supplies are not be brought to market. Companies will now be stuck with a lot of inventory that they will not be able to manufacture and profit from.

While the industries mentioned above have fallen into a trough, there are a few other industries prospering amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

The Delivery Industry

As people are all quarantining at home, delivery services will be tasked with bringing almost everything to our homes. To avoid going to the hospital for non-coronavirus reasons, people who need ordinary medicine choose to have their medicine delivered from the hospital to their home. A lot of people who do not know how to cook depend on deliveries from food delivery companies, while some people order daily necessities from supermarket delivery services. Others will buy various products online using big shopping platforms like Amazon.

The Online Education Industry

The online education industry has also prospered during the coronavirus pandemic. Millions of students in the United States are forced to stay at home, yet they are still in their school semester and need to continue their education. Online education and meeting platforms have provided ways to keep class in session remotely and running as smoothly as possible.

The Live Streaming Industry

As a by-product of the internet, the live streaming industry has been rising in recent years. Higher leisurely browsing rates on the internet has resulted in more viewers on online streaming platforms. As a result, the amounts of clicks on some live broadcasts and streams will lead to greater ad and sponsorship revenue for people in the industry.