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medical care Must receive all necessary funds in order to ...

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medical care Must receive all necessary funds in order to ...

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health care will undergo enourmous changes because ...

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People SHOULD be aware of the importance of ...

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People SHOULD be aware of the importance of ...

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Panic hoarding and stocking

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Online shopping surges for COVID-19 virus protection

Both officials and medical experts are encouraging Americans to take action and keep their hands clean and away from their faces. And Americans are listening. Ecommerce purchases of the virus protection category of products such as hand sanitizers, gloves, masks and antibacterial sprays have surged by 817%, according to Adobe's analysis.

People are stocking up on meds online

With countries now putting in place COVID-19 travel restrictions to minimize the spread of the virus, U.S. consumers are stocking up on over-the-counter meds, most likely to be prepared in case they do catch the virus and need to self quarantine. Adobe's analysis of eCommerce transactions found that purchases for cold, cough & flu products have increased 198%, while online purchases for pain relievers increased 152%.

Even toilet paper is being purchased online

Brick and mortar retailers in both the U.S. and Canada are reportedly limiting the amount of toilet paper patrons can buy. No wonder online purchases for toilet paper have spiked by 186%, according to the Adobe data.

Online shopping to fill the pantry

Similar to toilet paper, non-perishable foods such as canned goods and shelf-stable items (think: oatmeal, rice, pasta) are common staples in emergency preparation. It's no surprise that online purchases of these items are up-69% and 58%, respectively.

"Right now, as consumers increasingly use digital methods to prepare for a possible emergency, retailers need to ensure smooth, frictionless, and fast experiences on their eCommerce websites and mobile applications," Smith said. "Meeting your customers' needs and expectations at a time like this is imperative: it could either make or break your brand."

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How COVID-19 is Impacting Online Shopping Behavior | Adobe Blog

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Both officials and medical experts are encouraging Americans to take action and keep their hands clean and away from their faces. And Americans are listening. Ecommerce purchases of the virus protection category of products such as hand sanitizers, gloves, masks and antibacterial sprays have surged by 817%, according to Adobe's analysis.

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Global health in the future

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Alanna Shaikh: Coronavirus is our future | Alanna Shaikh | TEDxSMU

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Global health expert Alanna Shaikh talks about the current status of the 2019 coronavirus outbreak and what this can teach us about the epidemics yet to come. Alanna Shaikh is a global health consultant and executive coach who specializes in individual, organizational and systemic resilience.

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Education is at a crossroads right now, where the choice is between clinging to old practices and theories or redefining learning in the age of COVID-19. The pandemic more commonly known as the coronavirus has forced schools around the world to close, prompting a chaotic scramble to move online and find a way to somehow finish out semesters.

Online resources like Kaltura and Coursera - platforms that support course creation and video hosting for schools - have seen spikes in use as professors scramble to figure out how to teach online, as well as interest from clients and potential partners. Coursera and Kaltura have also announced they are offering some of their premium services and course content for free, for a limited time.

In some ways, the educational world is lucky that tech has developed to the point that it has. "If this had happened 10 years ago, the whole system would be crippled," said Jeff Maggioncalda, the CEO of Coursera, to Digital Trends. "We didn't have phones with cameras on them, for one." Computers and broadband were also not able to handle the load they can now, at least in the developed world.

But now coronavirus has now put a brick on the metaphorical accelerator of the ed tech car. The question now is, where will it take us?

Fortunate timing

The expansion of online education was already slowly happening before the outbreak. Coursera, for one, had made a concentrated effort to begin courting universities and colleges.

"Two years ago, we realized that universities will be moving more and more online," said Maggioncalda. "It's just inevitable, with the coming automation of jobs, with new skills emerging, it's clear that this has to happen." Coursera began working on a "for campus" program in 2018, specifically with the aim of partnering with universities to host and develop online coursework. It launched in August 2019. The timing was fortunate: "We were just in the awareness phase. Before the virus, only around 25 to 50 universities had purchased it," Maggionclada said.

Not only will more people need to learn new skills faster in the near future, the fact that students will have access to different university classes will not only make it easier to share resources, but perhaps also equalize the university system in a way.

"I don't think higher ed will ever be the same ..."

"Technology inherently centralizes things," said Jeff Rubenstein, vice president of product strategy at Kaltura. "This will certainly push more countries to have a more centralized curriculum. And, digital resources might cost more, but they will be available to every student." Plus, there is an ability to scale beyond the limits of a physical classroom, he added.

A variety of challenges

This new reality brings with it new challenges as well. challenges a lot of universities are running up against right now. How does one structure an online course in a compelling way? What about interactive elements? And how do you make sure it counts for the same credits as an analog course would?

"Right now, one of the things that's tricky is a university feeling comfortable making its content available online, but not necessarily counting the online course as a credit," said Maggioncalda. This has been a big road bump lots of online educational platforms have run into: The prestige question.

Aaron Rasmussen, the mind behind the popular online Masterclass series and the founder of his own online education company called Outlier.org, which just launched in August, said the prestige question was one of the biggest on his mind as he began his new venture. Outlier offers just two courses right now, with credits granted through the University of Pittsburgh.

Rasmussen said when he was thinking up Outlier.org, he realized that some of the big hindrances to online education used to be the poor content, the lack of social interaction, the cost, and the lesser prestige associated with an online degree. The internet now has many high-quality education platforms, at a variety of price points, all of which, like Kaltura and Coursera, allow for social interaction of some sort. The last question is the prestige question.

"For better or for worse, people will be sampling all sorts of brands of universities in their online education," Rasmussen said. "We will see pressure from student bodies to innovate and be as good as other schools."

A huge equalizer

Above all, the massive shift to online education will be a huge equalizer, he believes. Students will now all have access to the same tools online, and it will be a level playing field for schools.

"I don't think higher ed will ever be the same," said Maggioncalda. "It's a little bit like Y2K," he said, in reference to the changing of the clocks at the turn of the millennium, which many engineers feared would short out computer programs worldwide due to the date format change.

Y2K, Maggionacalda said, forced people to evaluate their tech stacks. This, he thinks, will do the same. "This will cause every college and university today to think 'what is our digital strategy, for real? How will we allow students to get more access?' It will accelerate what's already happening."

Editors' Recommendations

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Adapt or die: How coronavirus is forcing online education to evolve | Digital Trends

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Education is at a crossroads right now, where the choice is between clinging to old practices and theories or redefining learning in the age of COVID-19. The pandemic more commonly known as the coronavirus has forced schools around the world to close, prompting a chaotic scramble to move online and find a way to somehow finish out semesters.

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POLITICO Magazine
03/19/2020 07:30 PM EDT Link Copied

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Coronavirus Will Change the World Permanently. Here’s How.

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A crisis on this scale can reorder society in dramatic ways, for better or worse. Here are 34 big thinkers’ predictions for what’s to come.

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panic should not let us act irreationably

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panic should not let us act irreationably

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*bathes in sanitizer*

3. This grocery store that was completely wiped out - no pun intended - of toilet paper:

10. Same with this whole family:

11. These shots from a Whole Foods in Seattle, Washington - a high-risk state:

Yikes. My friend's daughter took these photos at a Seattle Whole Foods yesterday, an area where six people have now died from coronavirus. #CoronaOutbreak #CoronaVirusSeattle #coronavirus

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18 Pictures That Perfectly Capture The Coronavirus Panic

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bathes in sanitizer* 3. This grocery store that was completely wiped out - no pun intended - of toilet paper: 10. Same with this whole family:

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new idols will be introduced to the world replacing old figures

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new idols will be introduced to the world replacing old figures

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As a result of the coronavirus, beauty workers and retailers across the nation are struggling to maintain their businesses as usual, according to a new report from data company Poshly.

Speaking to Insider, Poshly CEO Doreen Bloch said beauty service workers, like makeup artists, are facing the most difficult challenges in the industry, as many salons have been temporarily closed.

She estimates that, in the future, people might become less reliant on beauty professionals and high-end cosmetic brands.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

The beauty industry is changing rapidly in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a new report from data company Poshly, it's revealed that both cosmetic retailers and beauty service workers are facing unprecedented challenges to keep their businesses running as usual. Salons are closing across the nation, leaving makeup artists and hairstylists without work. Stores like Sephora have also had to temporarily close.

As a result, it's becoming increasingly clear that the pandemic will likely leave a lasting impact on the billion-dollar industry.

Speaking to Insider, Poshly CEO Doreen Bloch said the data company created its report after clients began asking how the virus could impact the beauty industry over time.

"Especially in the last two weeks, every brand has been really seismically impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, and so we felt it was important," Bloch said of her company's report. "I think everyone is just adjusting and evolving hour by hour around this crisis and its implications."

The report, which analyzes responses from 872 people in the beauty industry, focuses "primarily on the US." Still, Bloch notes that the coronavirus pandemic is a "global phenomenon" that's "really devastating for people's businesses" around the world.

According to Poshly's coronavirus report, one million service workers in the beauty industry are being impacted by coronavirus. Salons have been closed in the tri-state area since Saturday, and other states are now taking similar precautions. As a result, many makeup artists, hairstylists, lash artists, and more are without work.

"Fom our vantage point, the biggest hit will come to the small business owner and the freelancer who literally cannot do their craft at this moment in time," Bloch told Insider.

For the time being, many beauty workers are shifting their businesses to focus on digital classes rather than in-person makeovers. Speaking to Insider, makeup artist Shalonda Peguero said she's one of them, as she began offering digital courses once beauty services were suspended in Seattle, Washington, where she works.

"I'm teaching a lot of people how to do their own makeup," Peguero said. "I'm charging a small fee for it, and surprisingly got a lot of people who wanted to enroll in the class, so that's been helping."

Though Peguero said she is ultimately "pretty worried" about the lasting impacts coronavirus could have on her business, she believes people are "always going to need makeup," especially once they begin to reschedule their now-postponed weddings.

According to Bloch, social distancing and quarantines are now leading people to get creative and experiment with their looks. For example, she noted that people who have been "reliant on going to the salon for decades" are now trying to replicate their stylists' work using at-home hair kits.

"I think the reason we're gonna see this have a long-term impact is that even once the COVID-19 crisis is over, what we expect is that people will still be very cautious about their intimate experiences with service providers," Bloch said.

"I think you're gonna see a lot of consumers take a step and say, 'Is that the cleanest, most hygienic space that I can put myself in?'" she continued. "And I think that's going to be a long-term hit."

Though there's nothing wrong with people learning new beauty skills, it's worth noting that this could severely impact the businesses of beauty professionals.

"As people say, 'Oh I can do a mani-pedi myself at home,' they might start to eliminate a few services," Bloch said. "And if you see people eliminate one service every other week, that is a major - like a 50% drop - to that business."

Beauty retailers will also face obstacles as a result of the pandemic

Cosmetic retailers have taken various approaches to handling the coronavirus. For example, many have temporarily closed stores to protect employees and customers from the pandemic. As a result, some of these retailers are now offering sales and free shipping on products.

"Retailers are going to be less hit because there's a way for them to shift quickly into an online-first model," Bloch said. "That's something that the services sector simply can't take advantage of."

Still, it's unlikely that all beauty retailers will fare the same when the pandemic slows down. According to Poshly's report, consumers are now stocking up on brands like Dove, Maybelline, Neutrogena, Cetaphil, and Elf Cosmetics. Not only do some of these brands prioritize skin care over makeup, but they're also affordable.

"We simply are not seeing people in the data saying 'Oh I'm gravitating towards La Mer,' for example," Bloch said. "That's just not happening at this moment in time."

"We have seen this trend - a skin-care moment - that is taking place in the immediate crisis," she continued. "But I think in general, people are really gravitating towards budget-friendly self-care."

To stay afloat, retailers and beauty professionals should focus on their digital businesses

At the end of the day, the future of the beauty industry is uncertain. There's no telling how consumers will actually shop for makeup and skin care once the pandemic ends, and it's equally unclear if service workers will see lasting impacts from the virus. Still, Bloch believes there are steps both retailers and independent workers can take to come out on top.

"We're hearing from consumers that about two thirds of them are not interested in new product launches right now," Bloch said. "It just doesn't feel like the right moment to say, 'Hey, we have this new palette!'"

"Although there is a third of consumers who are receptive to that, the majority right now just feel like it's off tone for the crisis that we're in," she said.

Love, Kim & the KKW Team

A post shared by KKW BEAUTY (@kkwbeauty) on Mar 16, 2020 at 1:29pm PDT

Instead of new products, Bloch said consumers are now "very eager" to gain "actionable information." For example, people want to learn techniques for applying different products and cleaning their makeup brushes - answers to which can be provided by both beauty brands and independent artists.

"We'll start to see an expansion of online events, livestreams, chats," Bloch said. "People connecting around a topic they love is going to be very important as well, so practitioners can really lean into that."

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The coronavirus could majorly impact the beauty industry in the future, as people turn to DIY services at home

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As a result of the coronavirus, beauty workers and retailers across the nation are struggling to maintain their businesses as usual, according to a new report from data company Poshly. Speaking to Insider, Poshly CEO Doreen Bloch said beauty service workers, like makeup artists, are facing the most difficult challenges in the industry, as many salons have been temporarily closed.