As some U.S. states relax their shelter-in rules, businesses prepare for a slow recovery due to the uncertainty of COVID-19’s almost certain resurgence. The questions arise for those physical businesses in need of unarmed or armed guards: what precautions are to be taken by guards, and what kind of interaction is there going to be with their customers?
The prescient film ‘Contagion’ by director Steven Soderbergh, released in 2011, highlighted the possible effects of a pandemic on society. Terms such as social distancing were bandied thrown about by actors like Laurence Fishburne, portraying a chief Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scientist. What stood out to me, among other things in this meticulously researched depiction, was the utter chaos that emerged from the virus. Stores were looted, people’s personal security was in danger. Where were the security guards? It occurred to us that organizations break if they are not prepared; chaos reigns if we are not organized.