My father isn’t a big stock market mogul, but during his five-day visit at the end of February, he spent much of his time actively not panicking about the stock market, which was dropping at an accelerated rate due to the global worry of the novel coronavirus, also known as SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19. Fox News was blaring from my television day and night with updates on the spread of the illness to the United States, how the government was handling the situation and how the stock market was tumbling down — fast.

My dad watched intently with an agitated look upon his face between calling family and friends to gain insight on their take on the situation and scouring the internet, researching how stock markets faired after similar infectious diseases spread around the world like Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the past. And I am happy to share that the stock market did recover perfectly fine after those were eradicated. I say actively not panicking because he was concerned and worried of course — who wants to lose thousands and thousands of dollars — but he didn’t become so unhinged that he flew off the handle and took all his funds out of the market due to wide spread pandemonium.

At the time of print, there have been four cases of coronavirus in Illinois, which is where I live, with a possible fifth, if confirmed. With Illinois being one of the 10 states with cases, I can’t say I am not concerned. I have avoided going anywhere with large crowds like the mall. However, I have not flown off the handle and taken my son out of daycare, locked my family in the house, resorted to ordering groceries for delivery and avoided living life. I have not let panic take over.

Coronavirus has no doubt affected the travel industry. Borders have been closed, people have cancelled vacations and businesses have postponed meetings all in hopes to stop the spread of the virus and to protect themselves from contracting it. It would be silly to think that the repercussions of this disease will not have a tole on airlines and air travel. It is completely natural for aircraft maintenance professionals to be concerned about their jobs. But don’t be. The industry is taking a hit, but we are not down for the count.

Like the stock market in the past when a deadly outbreak has hit, the industry will not only survive, but continue to grow. This is just a hiccup while the world works to fix the situation at hand. So, while the medical professionals and governments are doing their absolute best to eradicate this outbreak across the globe, take your mind off of the world’s problems and turn to page 10 and read Ron Donner’s Mapping Out Maintenance story and read about what MROs around the world are doing and how the industry is thriving.