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Companies far and wide are doing what they can in support of the global citizen by retooling their factories and supply chains. Auto manufactures, distilleries, home product companies, and others are all stopping production of their standard business products and shifting their expertise towards making items like masks, sanitizer, and respirators.

Over the last few days, the governors of Florida and Washington have declared a state of emergency for their respective states. Typically, a state of emergency is declared during times of natural disaster or in preparation for largescale weather-related events, but what does a state of emergency mean? According to the state of New Jersey, “The Governor declares a State of Emergency when he/she believes a disaster has occurred or may be imminent that is severe enough to require State aid to supplement local resources in preventing or alleviating damages, loss, hardship or suffering. This declaration authorizes the Governor to speed State agency assistance to communities in need. It enables him to make resources immediately available to rescue, evacuate, shelter, provide essential commodities (i.e., heating fuel, food etc.) and quell disturbances in affected localities. It may also position the State to seek federal assistance when the scope of the event exceeds the State's resources.”

Libya is an OPEC member nation in Africa, according to their information on OPEC’s website, “Libya is the 16th largest country in the world in terms of land mass, comprising around 1,760 thousand square kilometres. More than a quarter of the country’s six million plus inhabitants live in its capital city, Tripoli. Arabic is the main language. Apart from petroleum, Libya's other natural resources are natural gas and gypsum. Its economy depends primarily on the oil sector, which represents about 69 per cent of export earnings. Moreover, the oil and gas sector accounts for about 60 per cent of total GDP.” Unfortunately, Libya is in the middle of civil war, starting in 2011 with the fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. The fight is between the United Nations-backed government seated in Tripoli and the Libyan National Army based in the eastern portions of the country, and unfortunately that leaves Libya’s National Oil Company sitting in the middle trying to remain a neutral party.

Weather:

AAA recently published their Thanksgiving travel predictions; they are estimating over 55 million people will be hitting the roads and skies this season.  The number of travelers is factored using a trip calculation of 50 miles or more away from home. According to the analysis, “This will be the second-highest Thanksgiving travel volume since AAA began tracking in 2000, trailing only the record set in 2005. Overall, an additional 1.6 million more people will travel compared with last year, a 2.9% increase. The vast majority of holiday travelers will drive to their destinations and, INRIX, a global transportation analytics company, expects Wednesday afternoon to be the worst travel period nationally, with trips taking as much at four times longer than normal in major metros.”  Although AAA expects the largest increase to take place with drivers on the road it is important to note that their largest air delays will take place in Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, and Boston.