The wide range of response to the COVID-19 virus is frustrating. Europe seems to take it more seriously than most of the USA. While here it seems to be decimating the large cities of New York, Philadelphia, Detroit and Chicago, the populace at large seems to regard it as a terrible inconvenience, rather than a death-dealing plague. Many people here are off-work due to their places of work being closed, but they are not necessarily staying IN their homes, which was the point of the thing.
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I'm still hoping for Anthrocon to take place, I think it will; the City of Pittsburgh and the VisitPittsburgh hospitality service have been doing their best to keep AC up-to-date and in the loop, but who knows how the situation and conditions turn in the next two weeks.
I'm a former Chicagoan now living in France. I have Anthrocon and Eurofurence still on my calendar this year as a dealer. And I can tell you, I agree that this disparity between US and Europe responses is frustrating.
Americans don't have the same labor protections that many Europeans do. I'm greatly simplifying things, but most businesses/governments are already required to have ~5 weeks vacation leave and extended sick leave or unemployment baked into the cost of hiring each employee. So while it hasn't been perfect, the European response has been to largely tap into those already existing social safety nets while they demand people stay at home and not work. So again, it hasn't been perfect, additional stimulus has been needed in many cases, and there's still a negative economic impact (-12% in France last I heard), but most Europeans were already protected for something like this. If you're already protected from instant homelessness/starvation, you're more likely to be willing to comply with stay at home and social distancing orders.
In the US, there's no government mandated sick or vacation leave, it's difficult even in prosperous times to qualify for unemployment insurance, access to healthcare is mostly done through health insurance provided by your employer, and most states have "at will" employment laws meaning you can walk into work on Tuesday and discover you've been let go from your job with zero notice and zero pay/severance package. And the millions of people working in restaurants and bars for a lower minimum wage than others (like $2.50/hr in some states) relying on tips to pad out their regular income are especially screwed. To have the government suddenly shut down huge swaths of the economy and demand everyone stay home when people have no sick/vacation leave, no severance pay, near-impossibility of getting unemployment insurance, and having their healthcare cut off, when so many Americans already can't afford a $500 unexpected emergency, is an especially painful blow. I can understand (but disagree) why so many Americans are desperate to just ignore the virus and get everyone working again. Work is the only thing most Americans even have.
The disparity in approaches is actually why I'm really hoping Anthrocon gets cancelled and there's still travel bans across the Atlantic (so I can get a refund on my flights). I had planned to be a dealer at AC this year and combine the trip with a visit to my folks whom I haven't seen in nearly two years. So I'm extremely upset to cancel all that, but at this rate, even if I were able to go (as a US citizen I'm allowed to return to the US whenever I want, assuming I can get a flight...), they may mandate that I be quarantined upon arrival for 2 or more weeks, which would prevent me from going to Anthrocon and cut my visit with family down to less than a week. Then I'd likely have to be quarantined getting back to France, which, if my husband joined me, would cut into the leave he'd already take for the US trip, meaning it'd likely be unpaid leave at that point, and with my income getting hit by event cancelations and being unable to ship purchases in my online shop due to most French post offices being closed, we'd come home with only lots of time lost in quarantine, no income from Anthrocon, and tighter belts for the rest of the year.
A bit of a rant on my end here but yeah, this whole situation sucks for everyone. To be clear, I'm not upset with the fact that we have to be locked down or unable to travel, and I'm not upset with whatever responses convention staff need to make to all this. They're doing their best and I can recognize what's necessary. It's just ruined the planning and incomes and family reunions of so many people. So it's unfortunate.
