Coronavirus, the new scary "C" word....as if the world needed another one! If what they tell us is true, it is our elderly and vulnerable friends and family members and those who have underlying health conditions, that are most at risk from this new virus. However, as parents, our natural instinct is to fiercely protect the ones we love and hence we go into Arnie-esque stealth mode, taking extensive precautions and preaching endlessly to our children about washing our hands.
As a venue for families and children, World of their Own already carries out much more than the standard hygiene requirements. We sometimes joke about it, but we are actually quite obsessive about our need for the play village to be tidy, clean and in order. For our own peace-of-mind and customer comfort, we also:
* Limit the number of children and adults in each play experience for greater manageability of our cleaning standards.
* Completely close for an hour between every play experience to clean down all touch surfaces, toilets and food and drink areas with antibacterial cleaners.
* Thoroughly clean the play village and Diner at the end of each day (so 3 cleans a day in total).
* Perform a deep clean of the premises once a week, or more if required.
* Ask all guests to hand sanitise with “magic mousse” on arrival as an extra precaution.
* Ensure all staff use hand sanitisers regularly during our interactive play experiences
Coronavirus, or Covid-19, is a scary thing, but let’s keep it in perspective. More people die of tuberculosis each day, and of air pollution every five hours, than have succumbed in two months of Covid-19. Children seem to be largely untouched. A vaccine is in the (admittedly fairly long) pipeline. We know where the illness came from and the situation in that country is slowly improving. The vast majority of cases are asymptomatic. Apparently it can not survive in hot temperatures and you can kill it with antiseptic spray, so science guru's are all over it and clinical trials are under way. This is not to downplay what has happened so far or predict what will, but simply to keep a sense of proportion about Coronavirus.
However, there's another side to this story too... if Coronavirus causes customers to stay at home or away from public places, the economy will most certainly be affected, but it will be absolutely catastrophic for small businesses.
As a fledging, small business, we are already starting to notice an affect due to public concern about Coronavirus, even though there’s no widespread outbreak or official guidance to stay inside....yet. If there's a Government-enforced lockdown, we have to hope that World of their Own, and thousands of small businesses like us, can survive.
