First,
click here to read a statement from Judge Julia Maldonado, Presiding Judge of the Family Courts, that says all in-person hearings and trials for all cases but "essential court matters" are canceled pending further notice. This makes what I write below even more real for all of us.
Doctors in the Houston Medical Center are today sharing with each other this article, which I beg you to read:
PLEASE
click here to read "
Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now
Politicians, Community Leaders and Business Leaders: What Should You Do and When
?"
This article is heavy on facts, real numbers, science and logic - things that do not always drive decision making in our country. The upshot is that it may be too late, but the only real way to prevent tens of thousands of deaths in the U.S. is to close everything down.
Smart people, like those who drive the stock market and our family court judges, are reading scientific articles like this and realizing what will have to be done and what the implications of that are for the economy. I am sharing this article because our legal community needs to be thinking now of what a total shut down will mean for our clients, our businesses and our families.
We are where Italy was two weeks ago and now Italy has closed everything down, including schools, courts, gyms, museums, bars, restaurants, hairdressers and non-essential company departments. The death rate in Italy is growing exponentially and hospitals in northern Italy are overwhelmed. Italy is at least is testing thousands of people every day and the U.S. is not. Here, the vast majority of people with Covid-19 are not tested or diagnosed. Shutting down the rodeo and the NBA is just the beginning.
Click here to read another article on why the U.S. will likely soon experience what Italy is going through.
So, imagine the Houston area in a week or so where almost all businesses and our children's school are closed. We do not have court to go to and mediations and depositions will not happen. Many of our employees cannot come to work and prospective clients are unlikely to visit lawyers. This is scarier than a shelf emptied of toilet paper at HEB. How long will we be able to pay our employees? How will our clients with immediate problems get help?
I do not want to spread fear, but we all need to be ready for what is likely to happen and make rational decisions based on facts and science.
