• Developer job interviews have gone virtual, as most Silicon Valley engineers are working from home amid the pandemic. 
• That's resulted in a rethinking of how these interviews are conducted: Developers are traditionally asked to solve textbook computer science problems on a whiteboard as part of the job process — something that's harder to do over videoconference. 
• At the same time, companies like Amazon Web Services and Twilio say that there have been benefits to the new way of doing things. Specifically, that they can hire candidates faster because they don't have to match travel schedules to bring them in for a meeting.
• Tools like HackerRank have grown in prominence, too, as companies look for new ways to assess the coding prowess of a candidate.
• Industry insiders say that while the in-person interview will likely make a comeback, they're optimistic that some of the more positive changes, including the reduced emphasis on the whiteboard and more flexibility around hiring remote candidates, will be here to stay.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Getting a job in software development, particularly in Silicon Valley, means enduring the whiteboard interview — a ritual that sees hiring managers test the coding skills of an applicant by literally sketching out the solutions to computer science problems with dry-erase markers. 

The practice has, at times, proven controversial: Critics say that even the most qualified candidates might not perform well under the pressure of solving textbook problems in front of a recruiter. Still, it's a standard part of the hiring procedure at startups and major tech companies alike. 

But the whiteboard interview is just one of the most obvious examples of something that's had to change, as the pandemic makes it harder for recruiters and candidates to meet in person. While platforms like HackerRank and CoderPad give the tools to assess a candidate's coding skills, and videoconferencing tools like Zoom can give a sense of a candidate's personality, but it's harder to simulate an in-person whiteboard session. 

Some companies, like Amazon Web Services, have found ways to make recruiting work remotely: As part of a "restructuring" of the process, candidates are asked to sketch in the program of their choice on their computer and share their screen with the hiring manager, or else use a dedicated app, Jay Shankar, vice president of global talent acquisition at Amazon Web Services, told Business Insider in an email interview.

$26 billion cloud communications company Twilio, on the other hand, has found itself de-emphasizing the whiteboard portion entirely while it rethinks the best way to handle the situation, relying more on its coding tests and more traditional job interview. At the same time, it's trying to assess how candidates will handle the challenge of working remotely.

"The interview experience is very artificial often," Ben Stein, general manager of developer experience at Twilio, told Business Insider. "You're trying to project how they behave in this unpracticed environment compared to how they'll perform...Most of your interactions with this person are going to be over Zoom, so you're actually rehearsing real life a little bit." 

Some, like Ammon Bartram, CEO of developer hiring platform Triplebyte, welcome the changes that have come about from the necessity of doing job interviews remotely. He says that the whiteboard interview is a "crutch" on which the industry has placed too much focus, and that remote interviews make for a more relaxed process — a candidate might feel more comfortable and confident sitting in front of their own computer, in their own home.

Already, Shankar says, AWS has seen some unexpected benefits: Without having to bring promising candidates in to meet with their potential colleagues and managers, it can move faster on hiring. Stein says that Twilio has seen similar dynamics, and says that it saves money for both the candidate and the company. 

"By removing scheduling conflicts due to travel, we have seen faster candidate life-cycle timelines as well as more consistency across interview experiences," Amazon's Shankar said. "Even more exciting is the ability for us to continue to develop and launch products and services with fully remote teams. We think this will help us to continue more efficiently recruiting talent around the world."

A new kind of test

The boom in remote recruiting has led to a spike in demand for online interviewing and technical hiring platforms like HackerRank and Triplebyte. They provide an online coding test that's proving ideal for companies that can no longer meet with candidates in person. 

"They are pushing us a lot in having the capabilities in an onsite interview in an online setting," HackerRank cofounder and CEO Vivek Ravisankar told Business Insider.  "You probably have to retool a lot of things in your process, what logistics tools you're going to use," he later added. "How can I be confident in making this offer when I haven't met this person?"

Even coding platforms that aren't specifically for hiring, such as coding platform Glitch, have seen companies using it as part of the interview process, in a bid to get a better sense of a candidate's skills and abilities. 

"We've seen really big companies moving their in person interview process into Glitch," Glitch CEO Anil Dash told Business Insider. "They watch them code in real time and see how they think about problems."

'What I hope happens is some of those best practices stay in place'

TripleByte's Bartram is optimistic that many of these interviewing practices will stick around — and that the whiteboard process will slowly phase itself out — even once the pandemic has passed. 

"As we get to the other side of this pandemic and meet people in person again, I suspect there will be a modest boost in virtual interviews," Bartram said. "What I hope happens is some of those best practices stay in place."

Still, Twilio's Stein says face-to-face interviews are valuable and can help candidates better evaluate if the company they're interviewing with is one they want to join and trust. 

"I'm not 100% saying we will no longer be flying candidates," Stein said. "All employers need to make candidates' experience good. Their decision to join or not join the company is much bigger than our decision to hire or not hire. It will probably depend on how the future of work changes."

It's unclear what the future of workforce distribution will be at the company. But even after companies are no longer bound by social distancing measures, Stein predicts that going forward, there will be a lot more flexibility in terms of remote work than there once was.

"We really prioritize the well being of our employees in ensuring that they are safe and comfortable and can be the most affected and doing the best work is our top priority," Stein said. "If we need more flexibility and evolve the ways we support our teams for the long term then we absolutely will."

Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at rmchan@businessinsider.com, Signal at 646.376.6106, Telegram at @rosaliechan, or Twitter DM at @rosaliechan17. (PR pitches by email only, please.) Other types of secure messaging available upon request. 

SEE ALSO: Here's how to rock a remote developer interview, according to experts

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We tested a machine that brews beer at the push of a button

• Melinda Gates, cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of Pivotal Ventures, recently spoke with Politico about re-opening the US economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.
• Gates said in order to reopen the economy, Congress must grant workers more paid sick leave days and more days to care for family members. 
• She also called on business leaders to change corporate policy, including adding flexible working hours for employees and onsite childcare. 
• This post is part of Business Insider's ongoing series on Better Capitalism.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Melinda Gates spends most of her time anticipating some of the world's biggest problems.

Before the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, Gates, who is cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of Pivotal Ventures, and her husband Bill, were sounding the alarm on global pandemics and the need for more research. Now, she's warning that the US economy can't reopen without fixing what she calls the country's "broken" system of childcare and eldercare. 

"If we want our employees to come back to work, we're going to have to address caregiving," Gates told Politico's Anna Palmer in a recent Zoom interview. 

Without federally mandated leave of any kind for workers, including days to care for a family member, much of the burden falls on the backs of women. Research shows that mothers perform about 60% of childcare: 7.2 hours per week for fathers versus 13.7 hours for mothers. And women are more likely to leave the workforce to care for family members. 

"They're home right now. We're seeing them. We're all seeing them," she said.  For the millions of Americans working remotely right now, the pandemic has laid bare the haphazard system of caregiving in the US, Gates said. Those who previously didn't understand what it meant to juggle caregiving and work now see how difficult it is, either in their own homes or from seeing their employees struggle. 

A recent Business Insider report found that the pandemic is set to close 30% of US childcare centers for good, as many depend on daily enrollment fees that are no longer coming in. This will impact millions of American families. A 2019 report from the Committee for Economic Development said that about 11.8 million (58.7%) of children under age five participated in regular, weekly care arrangements with a non-parental provider. Economists said these potential closures could prove catastrophic for the careers of American women.

Business leaders can fix this problem, starting with their own corporate policies.

To address the looming problem, Gates is calling on Congress to make change, specifically by legislating more sick leave days and days to care for a loved one. 

"My message to Washington is we have to look at all employees as caregivers. We are caring for those at home. And this hidden cost that our economy is built on the back of is finally visible to all of us," Gates said the interview with Politico. 

The private sector, too, has a role to play. 

"I would say to business leaders, think about what you can do," said Gates, who suggested having more flexible work hours and considering on-site childcare.  

"You can make this happen," she said. 

SEE ALSO: The pandemic is set to shutter 30% of US childcare centers

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Animated map shows the gender pay gap in every state

• Tony Hawk is undoubtedly the most famous skateboarder on the planet. His claim to fame is being the first skateboarder to land a 900, or a 900-degree aerial spin, in 1999.
• He got his start in the 1980s as a 12-year-old. His immediate success with sponsors allowed him to buy a house at age 17.
• As skateboarding's popularity waned in the 1990s, Hawk struggled, at one point only spending $5 a day on Taco Bell.
• But he positioned himself well for the resurgence of the sport, ultimately building one of the most influential skateboarding brands, Birdhouse, and striking a lucrative deal with video game company Activision.
• Hawk has poured his millions into his own philanthropic efforts and invested in a number of companies, like Blue Bottle Coffee and Nest.
• Estimates put Hawk's net worth above $100 million.
• Representatives for Hawk and his production company, 900 Films, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

SEE ALSO: Tony Hawk thinks it's funny when fans don't recognize him or mistake him for other celebrities — and he says it happens 'all the time'

Tony Hawk is a legendary skateboarder — and now businessman and philanthropist — known for being the first ever to land a highly technical 900-degree aerial spin.

Hawk accomplished the feat in 1999 at the X Games. It took him 11 tries. "This is the best day of my life," he told the crowd.

At the time, he was 31 years old. It was his last year of professional competition — but his wealth only grew from there. He is estimated to have a net worth above $100 million.

Hawk started skateboarding professionally at age 14 and was immediately successful. By age 17, he bought his first home.

Hawk was winning amateur skateboarding competitions at age 12, and started skateboarding professionally at age 14. By the time he was 16, he was touted by many as the best competitive skateboarder in the world.

As a 17-year-old high school senior, his "annual income surpassed that of his teachers," according to his website. This was mostly due to his primary sponsorship with Powell-Peralta skateboards and his participation in the Bones Brigade skateboard team. He was even doing commercials for brands like Mountain Dew.

"We were making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year as teenagers and traveling the world," Hawk told CNBC in 2019. 

"When I started making money ... I thought I'd continue to do so forever," Hawk said earlier this year. "My dad knew better and encouraged me to save and invest in a house. So I owned my own home when I was only 17 years old."

In the 1990s, when interest in skateboarding waned, so did Hawk's income.

As skateboarding developed a negative reputation in the early 1990s, Hawk started to see the impact on his own wallet.

"My income was literally dropping in half every month," Hawk told CNBC in 2019. "And people just weren't buying skate stuff, nor Tony Hawk stuff."

He took on skate demo jobs that provided about $100 a day. At one point, he was surviving on a $5-a-day Taco Bell allowance.

He stayed focused. He refinanced the house and founded Birdhouse, a skateboard team and company, with fellow skater Per Welinder in 1992, preparing for skateboarding to make a comeback.

As skateboarding regained popularity with the creation of the X Games, Hawk's Birdhouse became a mainstay brand.

The X Games were founded in 1995. The event poured new life into the skateboarding industry.

Birdhouse then became more than a skate team — it started producing boards and accessories around 1993 or 1994. Hawk told Rolling Stone that, at the time, he was "just calling shops and saying ... 'You wanna buy a board or two?'"

Birdhouse saw a sales spike after exposure from the X Games. The company, according to Sports Illustrated, was doing nearly $25 million a year in sales around 2002.

Hawk also created his own clothing line in 1998, which he then sold within two years to Quiksilver for an undisclosed amount. Hawk's clothing sales in 1999, before he sold the line, hovered around $1 million.

Hawk reaped a number of endorsements as skateboarding hit mainstream popularity.

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In the early 2000s, those endorsements included ESPN, Sony, McDonalds,Mountain Dew, Jeep, and Bagel Bites, as evidenced by the above commercial. 

Hawk's 2002 Bagel Bites endorsement earned him a bit of backlash at the time and accusations of "selling out," he told AdAge in 2019. He teamed up with Bagel Bites again for an ad campaign last year.

While the values of Hawk's individual endorsements are largely unknown, a 2008 USA Today profile asserted Hawk made "millions of dollars" from his corporate sponsors and marketing deals.

Hawk made a deal with Activision to create the Tony Hawk Pro Skater video game series in 1999, the same year he landed the 900.

Hawk told CNBC was offered a flat fee of $500,000 to put his name on the Activision game. He turned the deal down, and instead asked for royalties, which was a gamble.

It paid off. The franchise has surpassed an estimated $1.4 billion in worldwide sales as of 2019, according to Hawk's website.

The first editions of the game earned Hawk royalties of more than $6 million per year in the early 2000s.

Now, the beloved first edition of the game is getting a long-awaited remaster.

It was just announced that the classic skateboarding games "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater" and "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" are getting completely remastered and bundled into a new game that's coming this September for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Hawk's royalties deal almost assuredly means he'll see major kickbacks following the re-release.

Hawk has made multiple appearances as himself in television shows like "The Simpsons" and "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." The latter ultimately led to him creating the Tony Hawk Foundation.

In 2017, Hawk told Business Insider's Shana Lebowitz that one of the proudest moments of his career was a cameo on "The Simpsons" in 2003. He played himself in an episode where Homer challenges him to a skateboard match. "It was a tipping point of skateboarding being accepted into the mainstream in a lot of ways," he said.

Although he has a long list of TV and film appearances, it was a separate early 2000s TV appearance that got Hawk to start a charity.

Hawk won $125,000 on a celebrity edition of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" in 2002. He used the winnings to create the Tony Hawk Foundation, which funds the creation of safe skate parks across the country. The foundation has gone on to award over $10 million to more than 600 public skate park projects in low-income areas in all 50 states.

Hawk has made a number of interesting investments across industries, including in a coffee chain and in tech companies like DocuSign.

Hawk founded a video production company called 900 Films in 1999, named for his famous move, originally geared toward filming skateboarding.

Now, the San Diego-based company produces action sports content, like the popular YouTube account RIDE Channel, as well as advertisements for companies like Kraft, Sony, and Adobe.

Hawk was an early investor in California's Blue Bottle Coffee chain, which was sold to Nestle in 2017 for $500 million. He, and other early investors including Bono and Jared Leto, likely received a nice payout.

Hawk was also an early investor in Nest, which was acquired by Google for $3.2 billion in 2014. He has also invested in a San Diego brewery called the Black Plague. He told Reuters in 2017 that he has also invested in "DocuSign and a few other tech companies," because he like startups and "being on the ground floor of stuff."

These days, Hawk's family is based in San Diego.

His home base is in Encinitas, California. The private home is equipped with an infinity pool that overlooks San Diego and its own skate park, according to a 2015 GQ profile. It's filled with art Hawk has collected over the years — including a framed image of his "Simpsons" cameo that is signed by the cast.

Hawk also reportedly purchased a three-unit apartment building in Detroit in 2016 for an undisclosed price, according to the Detroit Free Press. (Hawk's wife, Cathy Goodman, is from the Detroit area.) They reportedly planned to rent two of the units and keep another available for Hawk family visits to the area, the Free Press wrote at the time.

Hawk, who has been married four times, has four children and two stepchildren from his marriages.

His oldest son, Riley, followed in Hawk's footsteps and became a professional skateboarder. At one point, he even skated for Hawk's Birdhouse team. Riley is also a musician.

Hawk reportedly drives a Tesla Model S.

According to a 2018 Sports Illustrated profile, Hawk shuttles his family around in a Tesla Model S with an all-white interior. The car has a base price of $74,490.

Hawk told MotorTrend in 2010 that his daily driving car at the time was Jeep Cherokee. He also mentioned that he had a manual 1964 Chevy Corvette Sting Ray, which auction for about $50,000.

Although Hawk isn't as prominent a public figure as he was at the peak of skateboarding's popularity, he's good natured about it.

Hawk frequently takes to Twitter to joke about being mistaken for other celebrities, particularly in airports.

He previously told Business Insider's Meredith Cash that he is often confused for legendary NFL quarterback Tom Brady. He assumes this particular confusion happens because "they know there's some sports star whose name starts with a T."

"I get recognized all the time, to the point where it's kind of strange. I never imagined I'd ever be famous from skateboarding," he told Cash. "But it's cool!"

• Paul Constant is a writer at Civic Ventures, a cofounder of the Seattle Review of Books, and a frequent cohost of the "Pitchfork Economics" podcast with Nick Hanauer and David Goldstein.
• In the latest episode of the podcast, they spoke with two experts about how COVID-19 is impacting Americans differently depending on their wealth, race, and gender.
• Even pre-COVID-19, black women were "losing out on $50 billion per year" compared with white men at the same levels of education and expertise, said expert labor market analyst Michelle Holder.
• Heather Boushey, the president and CEO of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, said that the best way to protect underrepresented communities is nationalizing access for "everything from paid sick days to healthcare." 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Going into the year 2020, would you have characterized the American economy as strong? If so, you're certainly not alone. On the latest episode of "Pitchfork Economics," Heather Boushey, president of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, said most Americans in the time immediately before the coronavirus believed the economy was booming. 

"If you just looked on the surface, our economy seemed strong," Boushey admitted. "We definitely had this very low unemployment rate," and plenty of other indicators suggested that a recession was nowhere in sight.

Still, Boushey and other economists had reason for concern. "We were worried that wages weren't rising as fast as they should have given the low unemployment," she said, but she had a hard time convincing some economists, pundits, and much of the general public to care about that, when every cable news business channel seemed to be a nonstop party celebrating record corporate profits that seemed to climb and climb with no end in sight. 

"There were a lot of folks who didn't seem to think that there was much wrong with the economy," Boushey said. "And yet there were millions who could see the underlying fragilities."

If you were to ask a minimum-wage level employee back in the boom-times — say, January of 2020 — what they thought of the economy, they'd likely have given you an earful of complaints. Back in the good old days of January, millions of Americans had no health insurance, no guaranteed paid sick time or paid family leave, and four in 10 Americans didn't have $400 in a savings account to cover an emergency expense. 

And now here we are in the middle of an emergency unlike any in living memory. Long breadlines and skyrocketing unemployment numbers are all over the same news channels that less than half a year ago were trumpeting the longest period of economic growth in American history. The truth is that these menacing fractures of inequality were expanding through the economy the whole time, and coronavirus only worsened what was already there.

"Those at the very, very top of the wealth distribution saw their wealth come back fairly quickly after the Great Recession," Boushey explained. But "for the vast majority of American families, that that wasn't the case. And too many have still never recovered the wealth that they lost." 

Without that foundation of emergency savings, good health care, and paid time off, poorer Americans were vulnerable to the slightest bump in the road. So when the economy ran into a brick wall, the economic carnage here was worse than in most other advanced nations. And because the federal government's response to the pandemic has been confused and lackluster, those economically vulnerable Americans are in even greater risk now that governors around the country are experimenting with "reopening" economies.

"Those families and those workers and those small business owners who have the least to fall back on are going to be the first to put themselves and their families in danger of contracting coronavirus because they need to get back to work faster than anyone," Boushey explained.   

Michelle Holder, an assistant professor of economics at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, has done extensive research which demonstrates the economic downturn has had an outsized impact on communities of color. Even before the crash, she explained, "women were paid less than men, Blacks were on average paid less than whites, and the intersection of the two — black women — was actually among the lowest-paid demographic groups."

Holder is the author of a jaw-dropping study that found the aggregate financial impact on black women in the year 2017 — that is, the amount of money that they didn't earn when compared to the earnings of white men of the same educational and experiential background — was around $50 billion.

"And so if you're talking about a community that is losing out on $50 billion per year," Holder said, those impacts worsen dramatically during a pandemic. "It just makes these groups less likely to be able to survive when things like COVID-19 wreck and ravage our economy." 

In the same way that the pre-COVID economy was booming or busting depending on who you asked, this downturn looks different to Americans of different experiences. If you're an educated white woman from a middle-class background, your coronavirus experience is more likely to be a series of inconveniences than the full-on disaster that impoverished Americans are experiencing. And white men are likely to experience a vastly different economic downturn than black women. 

This matters because the people who control the levers of power — the experts and leaders who guide our economic response — are largely white and male. The crisis that they're responding to is different than the crisis experienced by less privileged groups. So how do we build a more equitable economic recovery?

"First, we need to make sure that we are connecting the dots between how we think about the health of this thing we call the economy and the health of the people that really are the economy," Boushey said. This means providing universal access to "everything from paid sick days to healthcare and making sure that people are safe on the job."

Holder argued that employers need to do more to address "pay disparity issues based on gender and based on race." Policymakers should take a serious approach to legislating pay equity, ensuring that all employees with similar backgrounds and experiences are paid at similar rates.

The public health crisis caused by coronavirus is very similar to the economic crisis caused by coronavirus. Until we make sure that the most vulnerable members of our society have access to medical care and healthy homes and workplaces, we won't be free from the virus. And until our economy includes everyone as participants, we will be vulnerable to dramatic collapses that imperil us all.

SEE ALSO: Don't believe Mitch McConnell's talk about 'austerity' — his track record shows he'd rather bail out corporations and the wealthy at the expense of everyday Americans' futures

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why Pikes Peak is the most dangerous racetrack in America

• Cruise is still testing its cars while its fleet is off the roads in California amid the coronavirus pandemic.
• General Motors' autonomous vehicle arm has 233 self-driving vehicles which are registered to drive in California and not in use right now, but every day it runs roughly 30,000 simulations to test for safety, passenger comfort, and other criteria. 
• "Before our car hits the pavement, it's already driven thousands of miles," Head of Simulation Tom Boyd told Business Insider in an exclusive interview. 
• Follow all of Business Insider's latest updates on the coronavirus here. 
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

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SAN FRANCISCO  — Autonomous vehicles, robots, and complex medical devices all require significant amounts of testing before they can be introduced to the general public, a timely and expensive process that can take years — if not decades — to complete. 

To bypass that, companies are increasingly looking to simulation to test out complex machines in the virtual world before going to wide-scale production. Nvidia, for example, runs millions of simulations to perfect its robots that the chipmaker is hoping can help individuals with disabilities perform the most basic day-to-day functions — like cooking. 

At Cruise, the self-driving arm of General Motors, those efforts are led by Tom Boyd — a former video game-maker who helped develop the popular titles "Sims 4" and "Star Wars: The Old Republic." 

And the simulations are going to get even more important after Cruise and other autonomous vehicle (AV) firms halted on-road testing in cities like San Francisco and Pittsburgh due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

"It's way easier to test the physical world in simulation if you can model it accurately," Boyd told Business Insider in an exclusive interview. "Before our car hits the pavement, it's already driven thousands of miles." 

And while Cruise said on Thursday it would lay off 8% of its staff, the company is "doubling down on our engineering work and engineering talent," a spokesperson told The Verge. 

'Torture and torment' 

The technology helps to solve one of the biggest hurdles in making self-driving cars ubiquitous on the road: training AVs to respond to dangerous threats. The vehicles need this training, but companies are hesitant to put the cars in real-world dangerous situations, for obvious reasons. 

Simulation allows Cruise and others to "torture and torment" the machines in the virtual world to make sure the response is safe and appropriate when they go on physical roads, according to Boyd. 

"We can use that to see what the reactions are, change the code. And we can even use simulation to create data that they can use to learn from so they can get better at changing their response to these situations," he said.

Getting the hundreds of millions of miles needed to ensure self-driving cars are safe on physical roads would be a monumental challenge in itself, besides taking decades to achieve. 

But simulation allows companies to overcome that hurdle and bolster the on-road component with virtual testing.

Cruise, for example, says it runs 30,000 simulations per day, which is relatively akin to running 30,000 tests on the road.

And many of those tests are working on solving issues that may be months or years ahead of real-world scenarios. 

"It's fundamental for most AV companies to start simulation the day they start the company," Boyd said. 

The four pillars 

At its most basic, simulation allowed Cruise to replay scenarios that its self-driving cars encountered on drives, right when they returned to the garage. 

During on-road testing, the vehicles continually gather information about many aspects of the ride, including the surrounding areas and how quickly the AV is moving through certain neighborhoods. 

Cruise can take that information, highlight areas where it thinks the vehicle may have underperformed, and run the exact same route in the virtual world to make improvements to the software.

But the company is often unable to test its vehicles in more dangerous situations. Simulation doesn't have that problem. 

"We want to ask those 'what if' questions, because they are going to happen," said Boyd. "We can't guarantee that the world is behaving well, we can only control that our cars are behaving well." 

For example, Cruise runs hundreds of simulations to test an unprotected left turn — when a stop light does not signal when a vehicle should go. Such testing would typically take thousands of hours in the physical world. 

Those two encompass many of the simulations Cruise is currently running. But it can also create whole virtual cities that mirror the physical world — in Cruise's case, San Francisco, since that's where it does the bulk of testing. 

The company can then introduce all kinds of threats, from erratic pedestrian behavior to out-of-control drivers, and see how their machines respond. But it's expensive.

"You're running this simulation, you're renting a lot of cloud compute, and you want to make sure that you've set that situation up right," said Boyd. 

And similar to how scientists can train artificial intelligence-based applications to know certain images by exposing it to thousands of pictures, Cruise can also train its vehicles to respond in situations by continually putting in through the same scenarios in simulation. 

"That's the hardest one. You have to get your simulation looking very real and now you can use it to generate training data that would be hard to capture in the real world," Boyd said.  

Aiming for comfort 

Many of those tests are aimed at making sure the vehicle is safe. But Cruise is also focused on ensuring passengers are comfortable in the cars — another goal that can be measured by simulation. 

One key metric that can help indicate whether a passenger will be at ease during the drive is acceleration.

"We don't know that we are going tens of thousands of miles an hour around the sun because we just don't feel that, we aren't changing that. But as soon as you change, you get the accelerations," said Boyd. "If you're in a car that was changing lanes poorly … you feel it and your body starts to move around." 

Through simulation, Cruise can figure out scenarios where vehicles may be accelerating or decelerating at faster speeds — like hard braking — to learn the root cause and attempt to adjust the software to make those switches easier on passengers. 

"There's this frequency range that human's inner ears and balance systems react poorly to," said Boyd. "We can measure the accelerations both directional, which is linear, and the angular acceleration, which is turning, and map them against what makes humans comfortable."

And while Cruise has safety and comfort as two of its overarching goals, figuring out what to test within those parameters can be difficult and requires close coordination between Boyd's team and the engineering team. 

If the engineers are trying to test to make sure the car perceives oncoming traffic, "I don't want to be testing to make sure that my car's regenerative braking is exactly accurate," he said. "In this vast world of things you want to make real, you have to make the right choices." 

Cruise's efforts on simulation show not just how powerful the virtual world can be in accelerating the pace of innovation, but also how technology can be implemented to overcome external factors that may inhibit other parts of the business. 

SEE ALSO: How a hospital chain's use of chat bots to speed up urgent care highlights the importance of adopting AI tools in a time of crisis

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's what it's like to travel during the coronavirus outbreak

• The rules around the Paycheck Protection Program's "certification of necessity" for loan applicants have been clarified.
• The certification of necessity borrowers make when applying states that the loan is absolutely crucial for the owner's business to survive during the pandemic.
• The new guidelines state that a borrower receiving a loan of less than $2 million will automatically be seen in good faith for needing a loan. Borrowers with loans above $2 million will be reviewed to see if they need to repay the loan.
• This approach should encourage more small business owners and employers to apply for a PPP loan without fear of retribution.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

The US Department of the Treasury updated the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) yesterday to add guidance around an important detail regarding the "certification of necessity" borrowers make when applying for a loan. In signing off on this certification, borrowers pledge — under penalty of law — that the loan is absolutely crucial for their business to survive due to the business effects of coronavirus.

The update means that most borrowers who may have previously been considering returning PPP funds by today's "safe harbor" deadline established by the Small Business Administration (SBA) due to the threat of a government audit should have fewer concerns about meeting the program's need certification. 

Senator Marco Rubio, chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, recently aired the idea of using court-ordered means to compel participation in the committee's aggressive oversight into the use of PPP loans.  Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that he intends to audit all PPP loans over $2 million, including potential criminal liability for false certifications of eligibility. 

Additionally, last week the Department of Justice handed down its first PPP-related fraud charges, lending weight to recent warnings from the US government that it intends to investigate companies that have taken stimulus funds without needing them. 

Yesterday's guidance filled in some important detail that will likely put PPP loan borrowers of all sizes more at ease. Here's what it all means. 

Smaller borrowers are automatically certified to meet the standard for need

The pace of lending in the second round of the PPP has slowed considerably, with only $16 billion in new lending last week and an average loan size of just over $72,000. Jared Hecht, CEO of technology services fintech Fundera, believes that part of the reason for this slower pace as compared to the "chaos" of the first round was likely the way the previous government messaging struck small business owners in a time of crisis. 

"You're laying people off, you're kind of shut down, you're kind of not shut down. You're trying to figure out what the future has in store for you, and then all of a sudden you hear that if you take this loan you actually might be prosecuted," Hecht said. "You think you need the loan, but the terminology and the guidelines have been so incredibly subjective and ambiguous that you may think you need the loan, but will somebody conducting the loan think that? So you're generally going to say, 'I'm just not going to apply.'"

The revised guidance within the FAQs has been amended to say that a borrower (or group of related borrowers) receiving a loan of less than $2 million will automatically be seen to have stated their need for the funds in good faith.  

"That guidance likely will ease the decision-making process for [prospective] borrowers below that threshold," Neil Getnick, managing partner of Getnick & Getnick LLP, told Business Insider. 

Erik Asgeirsson of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) added that borrowers should continue to focus on making an earnest assessment of their own need for the funds. "You just need to be sure you can explain why the economic uncertainty required you to take the loan," he explained.

The SBA made the decision to automatically grant good-faith certification to borrowers beneath the $2 million threshold for a few reasons, Getnick said.

"The SBA has determined that this is appropriate because borrowers with loans below this threshold are generally less likely to have had access to adequate sources of liquidity in the current economic environment than borrowers that obtained larger loans," he explained. 

He added that this move will also promote economic certainty as borrowers with more limited resources retain and rehire employees. Given the large volume of PPP loans, he said, this approach will enable the SBA "to conserve its finite audit resources and focus its reviews on larger loans, where the compliance effort may yield higher returns."

Borrowers between $2 million and the loan ceiling will be given a chance to repay

Regarding borrowers who received more than $2 million in funds but less than the loan ceiling of $10 million, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin stated earlier that these loans would automatically be audited. Yesterday's guidance allows for the fact that these loans will be subject to review, but now lays out a model, where borrowers who are found to fall short of the economic necessity standard — for example, those whose companies are seen to have had accessible funds elsewhere that could have helped them weather the COVID-19 crisis — may repay PPP funds to the SBA. 

Additionally, the language states that as long as the borrower repays the loan upon notification, the SBA "will not pursue administrative enforcement or referrals to other agencies." 

"Basically now, if after the SBA reviews it and they notify the business that they need to repay it, they'll just work with the lender and they'll repay the loan," Asgeirsson said.  

Asgeirsson echoed Hecht's comments that removing the confusion around the liquidity reviews should open the pathway to put more PPP funds in the hands of more businesses that need them.

"There are a lot of business entities and organizations such as AICPA that were concerned that businesses that needed this aid now were not applying due to not understanding what this additional liquidity review was," Asgeirsson said.

Getnick cautioned that this additional guidance only exempts borrowers from concern about the necessity certification, not the other certifications made on the loan application. 

"The SBA still may pursue such remedies regarding other certifications and representations in the loan application, for example, the size of the loan applicant's workforce," he said. 

SEE ALSO: You should put your Paycheck Protection loan into a separate bank account if you want it to be forgiven, experts say

READ MORE: Fraud related to small business loans is on the rise — and the federal government is on high alert. Here's how to protect yourself in case of an audit or investigation.

Join the conversation about this story »

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• The most appealing feature of the Paycheck Protection Program is that your loan can be forgiven if you use the funds to keep your team.
• In order to be eligible for forgiveness, you'll need to document how and when you spent the money.
• Microbusiness consultant DeVan Curry told Business Insider how he not only helped 15 clients land PPP loans, but how he's working with them to make sure they get maximum forgiveness.
• Visit BI Prime for more stories.

Many small business owners who were fortunate enough to be approved for a Paycheck Protection Program loan now say they aren't sure how to spend the money in a way that ensures the funds will be forgiven.

Forgiveness, much like initial approval, depends greatly on providing adequate documentation about your business, and this can be especially difficult for solopreneurs and microbusinesses.

These smallest of small businesses often lack the organization and procedures that larger teams use, not to mention access to the social and financial resources of larger companies.

DeVan Curry has the utmost respect for one- and two-person small businesses. After all, if it weren't for his father's hard work as a "shade-tree mechanic," Curry says he couldn't have gone on to receive the business education and experience he's now bringing back to his community in and around Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Curry explained to Business Insider how he was able to get approvals for all 15 of his clients who applied for PPP loans, and how he's guiding them through using (and documenting) the funds so that they get the maximum amount forgiven.

Organize correctly and consider S Corporation

Experts always recommend separating your business and personal accounts, but that advice is especially important when proving to banks and the SBA that your loan is eligible for forgiveness.

"If people don't separate their personal from their business, they're not doing business," Curry said.

Beyond financial accounts, Curry is a strong proponent of organizing a microbusiness as an S Corporation, which can have several tax and legal advantages over remaining a sole proprietorship or registering as an LLC.

Curry says that his clients who had already dealt with this piece of the puzzle had a smoother time applying and receiving PPP funds than those who had co-mingled accounts and informal structures.

Subdivide your business into 5 pillars

In Curry's view, there are five core divisions within every business: management, accounting, finance, operations, and marketing.

"Even though you may be a one-person show, understanding those as having defined, separate functions… is crucial to running a successful business," he said.

Curry has his clients separate their payroll funds from other operations accounts. Through a partnership with the small business payroll platform Gusto, he is able to provide his clients with detailed information about their payroll and benefits expenses.

This can be especially important in getting a PPP loan forgiven, since you will more easily be able to show exactly how your business used the proceeds from your loan.

Consider bartering to conserve cash

Because at least 75% of a loan must be used for payroll, Curry and his clients have had to get creative about conserving cash. In some cases, that means bartering for goods and services.

"We love barter here. It's dollar-for-dollar, and we have to understand that our dollars need to be used for specific reasons," he said. "For example, someone needs a business plan written up — and they all do right now — well then I might need haircuts."

And when it comes to more traditional financing, Curry said that having a "boots on the ground" banking partner — in his case Pinnacle Bank— was indispensable. By working with the partners and tools that Curry offers, his clients are better able to adjust their spending and strategies as their situations evolve.

"Some of [my clients] had no clue what a cash-burn calculator was," he said. "Now they all have them."

SEE ALSO: Here's the checklist business owners should use when planning to reopen

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• Deborah Kassel's 81-year-old father, a retired physician, tested positive for COVID-19 in March following a hospital stay after spinal surgery.
• After only four days in a rehab facility, Kassel's father was told he was being discharged and sent home, despite still testing positive for the coronavirus and requiring 24-hour care.
• Kassel's father is not alone: Thousands of patients across the US are being prematurely sent home, while still potentially infectious, due to insurance companies refusing to reimburse hospitals for extended stays.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

There is a loophole in the treatment of COVID-19 and my father, a 81-year-old retired physician, has fallen through it. Countless others are sure to follow.

His experience as a patient being summarily discharged from a medical facility two days after retesting positive for coronavirus exposes a tragic flaw in our current health system. It highlights the hypocritically, hyped-up lip service being paid to the illusion of protective safety practices. The mandating of masks, six-foot distances, and handwashing means nothing if positive patients potentially able to transmit the virus are being released into the general population. 

My octogenarian father is the poster child for this absurd pandemic-perpetuating phenomenon.  

In complete disregard for both logic and ethics, my father — a Vietnam veteran and gastroenterologist who has cared for countless patients over a 50-year practice — is slated to be discharged from an acute rehabilitation center in New Jersey against our family's wishes. He'll be deposited in his New York City apartment — still short of breath, still unable to care for himself, and still positive for COVID-19.

It seems that the formal appeal to extend his treatment will not prevail — for the simple yet nonsensical reason that the facility is holding to the letter of the law, which in this case is the ever-changing and tragically enabling guidelines of the CDC. Their justification is that he's medically stable to discharge, and that they have the right to do so.

My father's fight for his life began in mid-March, just before New York city schools, restaurants, and life as we know it began to shut down. 

Following spinal surgery at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City, my father was transferred to Mount Sinai's in-patient rehabilitation unit — but then discharged along with the other virus-free patients to make room for the exploding number of coronavirus cases, including two on the floor above. 

Given the imminent peeking of cases in New York, my sister's home in New Jersey seemed like the safer place to recuperate. But seven days into his stay, his temperature spiked, and a visit to CityMD in East Hanover, NJ led to an emergency admission to St. Barnabas for pneumonia and coronavirus.  

Within two weeks, thanks to courageous health care workers in hazmat suits, my father was weaned from his external oxygen supply and transferred to a rehabilitation facility to resume his post-surgical, therapeutic recovery program.

However, after a mere four days into his treatment, the case worker informed me that he would be discharged the next day. After much pleading, I was able to convince the attending physician that my father should be retested. The results came back within 72 hours and confirmed that he is still positive for COVID-19 and therefore still actively infectious.  

In addition to his inability to walk without assistance, shortness of breath, and unsteady balance, my father's impaired memory puts him at risk of unwittingly spreading the virus through close contact with others.

The hospital justifies their decision, asserting that the CDC grants them the discretion to send my father home, despite the retest administered two days ago confirming that he is still positive for COVID-19. While conceding that no nursing service — private or public — will provide at-home treatment and risk contaminating their staff, they also admit that my father cannot survive without 24-hour care.   

What do they — the rehab facility, Governor Cuomo, the CDC — think will happen once my 81-year old COVID-19-positive father is deposited into the home he shares with hundreds of building residents, accompanied by me — his sole, yet full-time-job-holding caretaker with a daughter of my own?     

A medical director at the CDC who acknowledged the unsafe nature of the discharge, pointed to a long-festering reality: the fact that "our healthcare system is managed like a business." Insurance companies are limiting their reimbursement to medical facilities, who in turn deny covering the costs of positive patients beyond a restricted period, forcing the premature releasing of vulnerable and still contagious patients.

In a March 25 JAMA article, "Post-acute Care Preparedness for COVID-19," Dr. David Grabowski and Dr. Karen Maddox posit this same conundrum. "Where will patients who have begun to recover from COVID-19 receive post-acute care? There is still uncertainty around how long patients remain contagious after clinical recovery. Using generic clinical guidelines without retesting will result in a significant percentage of discharged patients into the community who are still infectious."

The bottom line is this: Thousands of people like my father are being discharged while still definitively or potentially infectious. 

Home-care services for an active infectious case are lacking or virtual. Training and provision of PPE for the family members targeted for providing care are non-existent. 

Without medical and administrative intervention, a resurgence of infection is inevitable. 

How can my father and I not dwell on this devastating eventuality  — as we all dutifully shelter in place?

Editor's note: At the time of publication of this op-ed, Kassel's father is still not home. He is still positive for COVID-19.

Deborah Kassel, PhD is an educator and writer who teaches English and cinema studies in NYC.

READ MORE: I had to go to 3 different urgent care clinics in NYC before I could safely get the coronavirus antibody test — here's what it was like

SEE ALSO: Why some people are afraid of life going back to normal after lockdown, and how to overcome those fears

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• Starting a new internship during the novel coronavirus pandemic can be overwhelming.
• I've been working since mid-March as an intern at Insider — and I've been doing it remotely.
• This has helped me pick up several essential lessons for succeeding in a virtual office, including the importance of thorough note-taking and why video check-ins with my managers and other interns are so crucial.
• Here are 8 tips I have for any interns about to embark on a similar journey.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

When the novel coronavirus was deemed a pandemic in mid-March, I was halfway to New York from South Carolina to start an internship on the social media team at Insider Inc., the parent company of Business Insider. Suddenly, the concern I felt over first-day jitters and settling into my new team was superseded by questions like "How long will this crisis last?" and "Will I ever make it into the office?" 

My first weeks on the job as a fellow (the title used by paid interns on a six-month program at Insider) consisted of navigating the onboarding process in a completely remote setting and doing meet-and-greets with colleagues I would possibly never get the chance to know in person. However, despite the unprecedented nature in which I started my internship, I quickly found my footing and was able to turn an otherwise jarring situation into a learning opportunity.

In the two months I've been working remotely, I've become what I consider to be an expert in operating within a work-from-home environment.

Here are eight tips I have for any other interns about to embark on a similar journey, and how they can use them to succeed at their new roles while navigating the virtual office.

1. Make an effort to build your professional network

It can seem a bit odd to try to foster relationships with your superiors when it has to be done through a computer screen, but it really is an important aspect of becoming a valued member of the team. Before the pandemic, you may have connected with ease by running into someone in the break room. What that translates to while working from home is scheduling a "virtual coffee." 

It could be just 10 minutes or it could be an hour. Either way, it'll give you an opportunity to get to know one another as you would if you were in the office. Take the time to ask questions— both personal and professional — so that you develop a sort of repartee that will serve as a great ice breaker and make you a real person in their eyes.

A personal goal I've set for myself is to spend some time getting acquainted with every manager on my team in an unofficial capacity. This has meant scheduling one-on-one "get to know you" sessions where topics could range anywhere from "So how did you start in your current position?" to "I see you've got some 'Star Wars' decor in your apartment. Are you a fan?"

Breaking through that personal barrier makes working from home that much easier since you eventually start to see your colleagues in a friendly capacity rather than a strictly professional one. It also gives you a little insight into how those in management-level positions got to where they are today, which can help direct your own career path.

2. Take thorough notes

Never before has it been so important to take notes detailing the ins and outs of your job. Going through the onboarding process in person can be tedious in itself, but the added distance that comes from working remotely makes it even more difficult. From day one, you should be recording everything that you do so that the margin of error later on will be much smaller. It would be nice if, when confronted with a question, you could just pop your head into someone's cubicle, but that's not actually an option during lockdown.

While your managers will, of course, encourage you to ask questions (and you should!), being able to operate autonomously will reflect well on you, and having notes to touch back on will expedite the team's success overall.

Something I've been doing from the start is keeping a spiral-bound notebook and pen at my desk at all times. Since I learn better from taking handwritten notes to look back on (and it's believed that taking notes by hand is the most effective way of learning), it just gives me the space I need to get all my thoughts and to-dos down on paper.

However, that's not to say that's the best method for you. You may prefer to use the sticky note function on your laptop or keep a running document open for all your notes. Try out a few different systems until you find one that fits.

3. Get to know your coworkers

When starting your new position, it's just as important to connect with entry-level employees as it is to network with management.

Keep in touch with other interns, even if they're not on your team. You'll be able to pick their brains on matters such as office hierarchy and navigating roadblocks that they've possibly already overcome.

Within the first couple of weeks in my new position, I had scheduled a video call with a fellow intern on my team who had been in the role exponentially longer than me. She was a wealth of information when it came to figuring out the office dynamics and gave me some idea of what to expect in the months to come as far as duties and assignments go.

Also, odds are that it's just as baffling for other interns as it is for you to be working from home. Lean on your peers — it will invariably provide some emotional comfort during this confusing time.

4. Show initiative whenever possible

Something that will really set you apart is whether you provide support when it's needed, even if it goes beyond your job requirements. For instance, if another intern/coworker is out for the day, offer to help with their work. By stepping up without needing to be asked, you display the characteristics of a leader and show yourself to be a key team player.

It also shows that you're willing to take the initiative necessary to make yourself known.

5. Keep an eye on your mental health

Now more than ever, it's important that you monitor your emotional well-being.

It can be far too easy to let tasks pile up to the point of being overwhelmed. To avoid this, implement a time-management system that gives you breathing room to be productive without being overextended.

When the end of the day rolls around, make an effort to really disconnect from work. If this means silencing notifications on your email, do it. It doesn't always reflect well if you can't separate your work life from your private life.

If you feel like that's not enough, I'd also recommend picking up journaling. I only started journaling myself about two years ago, but it's greatly increased my productivity and capacity to think clearly. Studies show that the kind of reflection that is necessary to journal leads to a "boost in self-efficacy," and reduced levels of anxiety, so it may be just the thing to keep you on track as you attempt to navigate this uncertain time.

6. Schedule weekly check-ins

As a new hire, it's likely that your manager has already scheduled a weekly check-in with you. If not, set it up yourself. When the check-in rolls around, always have questions and topics to touch on that you've accumulated throughout the week. Even if you don't need any clarification on something, make a list of the assignments you're tackling to give a sort of progress update. This includes things you feel you could improve upon. 

For instance, I recently told my own manager that I knew I needed to spend time on two menial daily tasks that I had been assigned the previous week, but that I had neglected while working on bigger projects. I was relieved to find that she similarly struggles to keep on top of small-ticket items that sometimes pale in comparison to the larger tasks at hand.

She offered up some great tips on time management (e.g., set a calendar alert reminding you to tackle those odds and ends by a certain time each day), and I felt better overall about having brought it up. By broaching the topic yourself, it shows your supervisor that you're actively learning and are aware of ways you could stand to boost your productivity.

If anything, though, don't leave the meeting only to realize you had a laundry list of points you forgot to mention, as it can be inconvenient for both you and your manager to bring it up outside the allotted check-in time.

7. Make sure to take regular breaks

This may seem like an obvious point, but it can be surprisingly easy to go all day without getting up from your home office space, especially if you're living alone. You should approach the workday as if it were an eight-hour car ride: Get up and stretch your legs every two hours or so to keep your body moving.

If you're living with family or roommates, maybe make a plan to walk or stretch at certain times together every day so that you'll be more committed to staying active. I've recently picked up running, and since I'm staying with my mother during lockdown, having her as my running partner has kept me motivated to stick to the new workout regimen.

Studies show that people who stay active tend to be happier, so the sooner you jump on the bandwagon, the sooner you'll see an improvement in your day-to-day mood and efficiency.

8. Don't forget to have fun with it!

Although it'll be difficult to show people who you are while you're working from home, you should try to let your personality shine through whenever possible.

This can be as simple as throwing a joke into the mix in workplace communications or just saying "Thank you" to coworkers that have really made a difference in your acclimation to the company. In my case, I had the opportunity to take over the intern Instagram channel for the day, which was a fun and casual way to give some insight into who I am as a person, not just as a professional.

• Danielle Page had been quarantining alone in her small apartment in New York City for six weeks when she was inspired by her cousin to buy a Tamagotchi. 
• "I bought one thinking it'd simply make me happy, but it also surprisingly made me more productive, and helped me get my sleep schedule back on track," said Page.
• If you're looking for something fun and nostalgic to keep your mind happily occupied during quarantine, Page says a Tamagotchi might just be the perfect choice.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Now seems like the perfect time to open this Tamagotchi I won from a random website a couple years back.

When my cousin Eric posted this Facebook status, I'd been quarantining alone with my cat in our 500-square-foot studio apartment in Queens, New York for about six weeks. By that point, not being able to leave my tiny living space for anything other than a bi-weekly, high-stress grocery store run had begun to have some pretty severe repercussions on my overall mental health, not to mention my productivity levels. 

Make no mistake — I'm not complaining. Things could absolutely be worse, and I'm grateful for everything I have right now. But in order for you to understand what drove a 32-year-old adult woman to purchase a kid's toy from the '90s, I need to paint an accurate picture of where my head was at. 

Somewhere between the third week and one-month mark of lockdown, getting out of bed to face another day of this "new normal" felt impossible. I started latching on to the only part of my day that hadn't changed since quarantine — the time before bed, when I'd put something on TV and scroll mindlessly through social media until I fell asleep — which was sometimes 2 or 3 in the morning. Then I'd sleep as late as my earliest work meeting would allow, and then spend the rest of the day playing catch-up, working late into the night. I'd rarely leave my desk (which sits in the same room where I sleep, eat, and attempt to exercise these days), save for necessary bathroom breaks and to shove some food down when I remembered to. 

In these uncertain times, seeing my cousin's status made me suddenly certain of one thing: Having a nostalgic toy to play with during all of this would make me happy. 

SEE ALSO: I played a long-distance version of Settlers of Catan, the wildly popular and complex board game, with 3 of my friends. Here's how you can do it from your own home.

If you didn't grow up in the '90s, you might be unaware of what a Tamagotchi is.

A Tamagotchi is a virtual pet that relies on you for food, to clean up its poop, and to turn the lights out when it's bedtime. You watch it hatch, and it morphs into different forms as it grows. It alerts you to its needs with a high-pitched beeping sound, and makes certain signs to let you know what food it's in the mood for (either rice or candy). 

As it turns out, there are plenty of options on the market if you're looking to purchase a Tamagotchi in 2020.

Target's Tamagotchi on Magic ($49.99) features a completely remastered, vivid world for your virtual pet to play in. Best Buy's collection of Gen 2 Tamagotchi  ($19.99) includes new games to play with your pet — and updated designs. These were more than I wanted to spend — and I was determined to get as close to the original version as possible without paying vintage prices (an original Tamagotchi goes for upwards of $60 on eBay). So I placed a bid on a 20th Anniversary series Tamagotchi — a smaller version of the original, for $7 — and I won. 

Winning this Tamagotchi was the most exciting thing to happen to me in months, so I quickly spread the word to family and friends

Overall, reception was positive. Friends sent words of encouragement regarding my ability to keep my Tamagotchi alive for longer than I had when I was a 10-year-old, and we all took some time to reminisce about our childhood experiences with virtual pets. 

When I told my mom, her response was, "You're getting one because Eric has one, aren't you?" That really made me feel like a kid again, because she was absolutely correct — I wanted the same toy because my cousin had it. 

Seeing my Tamagotchi hatch was as exciting as I remembered.

I set my Tamagotchi to the current time of day, which would inform its sleep schedule moving forward. Then, I waited for it to hatch, which was just as thrilling as I remember it being when I was younger. Because my Tamagotchi was just a hatchling, it went to sleep at 8 p.m. that first night. I knew that it'd morph into its next form the following day. I was eager to see that happen, so I actually went to bed early myself for the first time in many weeks. 

I had to wake up early to feed the young hatchling.

My Tamagotchi woke me up at 8 a.m. the following morning — it needed to be fed. Unlike my cat, who I could ignore for an hour or so before she'd start knocking things over to get my attention, not feeding my Tamagotchi promptly meant risking its death, so I got up, fed all three of us, and started my day.

My Tamagotchi inspired me to take more short breaks throughout the workday.

Approximately every hour, my Tamagotchi needs something. Instead of just cleaning up poop and continuing with my day, I started making it a point to get up, stretch, and do a lap around my apartment. It was such a small change, but it did wonders to help refocus my attention on the tasks at hand.

It's been easier to adjust to a healthier sleep schedule since my Tamagotchi's life depends on it.

As the novelty of my Tamagotchi started to wear off, I knew I'd be tempted to revert to my old sleeping habits — and start testing fate to see how long my Tamagotchi could go without breakfast. I started leaving it on my work desk a few feet away from my bed, so that I'd have to physically get up and start my day once it woke up. 

If you want to play with your Tamagotchi, there are even more interactive options available.

One thing my version of Tamagotchi lacks is the ability to play with your pet. In the version I had as a kid, there was a guessing-game option, where I'd have to predict whether the Tamagotchi would turn left or right. My cousin Eric has the PAC-Man Tamagotchi ($19.99 on Amazon), which basically combines the holy grail of games from my childhood into one. (I kind of wish I'd splurged on that, in retrospect.) 

It's also worth stating the obvious: Tamagotchi is essentially another screen to stare at — something I'm already doing too much these days. But if you need a distraction from coronavirus anxiety, I'd say it's the perfect tool. 

Danielle Page is a New York-based writer, editor, and content strategist. Follow her on Twitter @TheDaniellePage

• Countless brides who would have been walking down the aisle this spring are now scrambling to reschedule their plans and salvage their savings accounts due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• Jaclyn Regan of Staten Island, New York is one such bride: Her New Jersey wedding was canceled six days before it was supposed to happen in March.
• The cancellation has been emotionally and financially difficult for Regan and her fiancé, Angelo Fallacaro: They lost around $3,000 and are left with now useless, date-specific decor, from champagne flutes to personalized T-shirts.
• The couple has rescheduled their big day — and Regan says that compared to how others are suffering right now, they know their problems are small. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

On March 14, one week before our wedding, a manager from the catering hall where we were about to be married called and asked how we felt about postponing.

At the time, the threat of the coronavirus was still very new, so while the outbreak was on my mind, it really hadn't been a major concern. We live in Staten Island, where at the time only one case had been confirmed. It was still too early to grasp just how devastating this virus was going to be.

So we sat down with our families, talked over our options, and scheduled a meeting at our venue — South Gate Manor in Freehold, New Jersey — for the next day.

The news wasn't great. The owner of the catering hall had already started to cancel upcoming events. Some of our wedding guests started calling to say they wouldn't be able to make it. Of course I was devastated — everything was set and ready to go, we were so close — but there was a strong possibility that Freehold Township would close down entirely, food deliveries would be delayed, and guests wouldn't be able to get to the hall. 

The day was already ruined, six days before it was to happen. We realized it was only logical to postpone.

Reorganizing our wedding has been a bump in the road, a big one, but we're making the best of it. This virus is deadly and scary. So many people are sick and so many people have lost their jobs — I had to throw out a couple of dated items and replace a seating chart. I try to keep it in that perspective. This is obviously not how we planned things, but compared to how others are suffering, it's simply an inconvenience.

In terms of loss, we were actually in a good position. Because we were one of the first weddings to be cancelled, we had our first choice of dates to reschedule. We wanted to recoup as much as possible, so we opted for the next available Friday, which is July 17. South Gate is a big family business — the caterer's sister is his florist, his brother is a photographer — so that made the transition easier. There were just a lot of phone calls and a little bit of juggling to make sure all of the vendors could transfer their services to that date. 

The limos, the DJ, and basically everyone else involved were able to make the switch. Our officiant was the only missing piece — we'll have to make a change there — but overall there wasn't major damage.

Some of our flowers were already in transit, so the florist had to accept at least half upon delivery. We had 300 blush roses in our house for days; I was giving them away to friends, neighbors, anyone who would take them. 

That portion of the flowers ($1,500) and the officiant fee ($500) were a complete loss. I put off estimating our overall losses for a month, basically thinking "it is what it is," but after adding it all up, it's not nearly as bad as I had imagined. We're losing about $3,000, which is nothing compared to the total cost of the wedding which is around $65,000. 

But there's so much that I can't put a price on.

Our date was meaningful to me. It's engraved on my champagne flutes which are now useless. My honeymoon couldn't be salvaged. We were originally going to St. Lucia, but that was booked up in July so we've switched to Barbados. It's fine; it doesn't matter where we go — but summer flights and vacations are almost double the price of what I was paying to go away in March. That's an added expense we weren't counting on.

I made dozens of overnight bags for the guests who were staying in the hotel; they were filled with personalized water bottles and other dated items which have to be scrapped. Our favors will have to be rewrapped and tagged with our new date, the personalized T-shirts my mom made will now never be worn. Our bridal party gifts were dated and have to be redone. I have everything stored in a spare room, and day by day I realize more and more things that will have to be changed.

I'm worried.

Because we canceled less than a week before the wedding, all of our vendors were already paid in full. I'm confident the payments will be honored and our wedding will eventually go off without a hitch — but we poured all of our money into this big day that still hasn't happened, and now there will be more expenses to come.

Our new date is only a few months away so we're in the process of reprinting and resending invitations, but I'm nervous about making that move. Will this be over by then? Will we get close to that date and realize we have to postpone once again? Right now I feel as if my life is on hold. 

Overall I know we're lucky. I'm a teacher and my fiancé is a cop, so we both are still working and we both have our health. A $3,000 loss is tough to bear, especially when so many people are out of work, but it could have been so much worse. My friends and family have been so supportive, and I keep telling myself the worst possible scenario has already happened. It can only get better from here. 

READ MORE: How to save money during the pandemic: A personal finance expert explains how to negotiate your rent and bills and build a successful side hustle

SEE ALSO: I'm a career coach who found my first job at the end of the 2008 recession. Here are 5 ways for recent graduates to job search in the coronavirus economy.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why thoroughbred horse semen is the world's most expensive liquid

• Offices will have to be reinvented so employees can safely return when the coronavirus pandemic subsides, experts told Business Insider.
• These changes could take the form of redesigning office layouts, mandating temperature checks at the door, and making face masks and other protective gear mandatory.
• Some companies may even reduce their office space and encourage more workers (at least those who can) to remain at home.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories. 

As several states begin to ease up on lockdown restrictions, business leaders are thinking about ways to return their workforce to the office. But reopening and ensuring a safe return is a complicated problem. In order to prevent an even bigger outbreak, employers will need a steady supply of medical equipment, coronavirus test options, and a new set of social distancing standards.

Every industry in the country has been affected by the pandemic and subsequent quarantine, and they each have their own plans for reopening. Companies in the tech sector, for example, have already issued timelines on when people can return to their offices that stretch to next year, Business Insider previously reported.

Amazon's white-collar employees at headquarters will continue to work remotely until at least October, and its new workplace will include physical distancing, deep cleaning, temperature checks, and face coverings, the company told Reuters. Twitter employees, on the other hand, have a remote work option for an indefinite amount of time. Amazon's main headquarters is located in Seattle, while Twitter is located in San Francisco. 

There's no one-size-fits-all approach to reopening offices amid the coronavirus pandemic. Moreover, the new workplace will most likely look — and feel — different.

All these changes are going to be expensive, experts say. For example, a company like Walmart will likely have to spend upwards of $4 billion on protective gear like face masks and gloves for its thousands of employees, Alexander Alonso, the chief knowledge officer at the Society for Human Resource Management, a nonprofit association of HR professionals, told Business Insider.

Business Insider has created an ultimate guide to all the equipment you'll need when reopening offices and bringing employees back to the workplace. It's important to note that the cost and availability of these supplies are unclear, and that we've provided approximate numbers. 

Here's what you need to know. 

SEE ALSO: What companies need to know about stocking up on coronavirus tests for employees before reopening offices

Face masks

The CDC recommended that people wear face masks to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. Officials encourage people to make homemade masks in order to preserve surgical and N95 respirators for healthcare workers.

You can make reusable masks with a bandana or blue shop towels at low cost. Disposable surgical masks cost about $0.25 per item, and disposable N95 respirators cost $2 to $4 each, Business Insider previously reported.

It's important to note that face masks do not prevent you from getting the coronavirus, but people who are already sick can limit the spread of the disease by wearing them. There are controversies around the effectiveness of homemade masks, as public health experts explain some cloth materials are better at filtering particles out than others.

David Yanez, CEO of Andonix, a company that upskills frontline workers, previously told Business Insider that the severe supply shortage will serve as one of the biggest blockades for employers to access personal protective equipment (PPE).

"We estimate that at least 10 million more workers need to go back to the office," he said. "In a short time, that creates a demand of at least 35 million face masks per day. If every working person needs to use one, that market is going to be difficult to supply in the short term."

Yanez recommended that business leaders secure vendors and a delivery time right away. Hunting down a vendor will also be cheaper than ordering them online, he said.

Gloves and hand sanitizer

Urging employees to wash their hands frequently is more effective in preventing the spread of coronavirus than using gloves, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). But gloves can be useful when you're disinfecting your office or cleaning up your work desk. 

Business Insider has been keeping tabs on the purchase options for affordable gloves. As of May 12, latex gloves cost about $20.15 for a pack of 100, while vinyl gloves cost $6.84 per 100-pack. 

Adrienne Cooper, chief people officer at digital site FitSmallBusiness.com, previously told Business Insider's Elizabeth Alterman that she started planning for her company's reopening by creating a list. 

"Create a precise list of what your business will need based on the type of work you do, and the needs of your employees based on the risk factors for them and their work," she said.

Cooper narrowed down her needs to face mask and gloves, as well as hand sanitizer and cleaning wipes, she added.

It's important to note that some hand-sanitizer products don't actually have germ-killing ingredients. Also, improper disposal of gloves can actually increase your risk of getting the virus. 

A redesigned office layout and physical barriers

An open office space might not work amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr. David Zieg, clinical services leader and senior consultant at Mercer, a global consulting firm, told Business Insider that employers should separate cubicles and put up physical barriers between work desks to ensure that employees are still six feet apart.

"The only thing we know that works to limit the spread of this virus is keeping our distance from each other," he said. "It's the only thing we know for sure. Everything else might work. There's just a lot of uncertainty in all the other efforts we're looking at. Employers should look at how they can support keeping distance."

Convene, a flexible-coworking-space company, recently shared with Business Insider its post-pandemic floor plans. The company is setting up hand sanitizer stations around the office, and it's also redesigning layouts and removing furniture to fit social-distancing standards. 

For example, conference rooms will have a limited attendee capacity. Phone booths will be temporarily out of service, and there will be spacing markers in areas like the kitchen, coffee stations, and bathrooms so that people are aware of their distance with each other, the company shared.

Zieg also recommended splitting up employees into shifts so that there'd be a limited number of people in the office on any given day. For example, an employee could go to the office on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and stay at home the rest of the week.

Contact-tracing apps

Over the past several weeks, cloud companies and professionals-services firms have been unveiling products to help companies navigate through office reopening plans.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a global professional-services firm, has developed an automatic contact-tracing app that uses your phone or laptop's Bluetooth to track when employees come in contact with each other in the office.

Tom Puthiyamadam, digital consulting leader at PwC, said each employee would have an app in their work phone that collects only Bluetooth and WiFi-signal data between devices. This app would also document when devices are interacting with one another in the office based on distance. If an employee tested positive for COVID-19 and notified HR, the contact-tracing app would serve as a tool to help employers pinpoint who and when that person might have came in contact with, he added.

This app does not track location data, and the data is only being collected within the office through your work phone. Employees wouldn't bring their work phones home.

At the moment, PwC is charging clients $1 per employee each month for the contact-tracing app.

Similarly, Salesforce created Work.com, a tool that helps companies keep track of which employees are coming into the office, when people are scheduling their lunch breaks, and when cleaning crews are disinfecting the space, Business Insider previously reported. 

All of Salesforce's products will be available starting in June, and the prices will vary, the company told Business Insider.

Coronavirus tests

Access to accurate, reliable testing will be crucial for reopening offices in major urban centers, said Lauren Vela, a senior director at the Pacific Business Group on Health, a nonprofit consortium of private companies and public agencies that advocates for patients.

That, however, is a difficult proposition since accurate tests are not yet readily available in the US at a price point that companies can afford.

Testing falls into two categories. Diagnostic testing, usually conducted via a nasal swab, can tell if someone has COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Antibody testing analyzes a person's blood to see if they have antibodies that would indicate the person had been infected with coronavirus in the past.

"The tests are not so readily available, and they're expensive," Vela said. 

And it's not as if you can test employees once and have them come into the office. They need to be tested on a regular basis, and employers need to be sure of the test's accuracy.

Some tests are not always accurate.

"Testing needs to be really comprehensive," Vela said. "What employers really need is a very low-cost test that has high validity and is widely available in massive quantities."

The US lags behind other developed nations in per capita testing, reports Business Insider's Aylin Woodward and Shayanne Gal.

As of May 12, the US has conducted 28,482 tests per million people. Italy, on the other hand, has conducted 41,771 tests per million people.

For employers and employees to feel safe taking public transit and coming into offices with hundreds (or thousands) of coworkers, experts say tests will need to be much cheaper and more readily available.

Temperature takers

In the absence of accurate diagnostic testing, employers can use temperature checks — at the door, every single day — as a proxy for screening out those with COVID-like symptoms, Alonso of SHRM told Business Insider.

"It's basically a proxy test," Alonso said. Any employees who have a high fever (say, over 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit) will be turned away at the door and instructed to work from home.

Employees could also self-report symptoms to their employers on apps each morning, storing their temperature data in an app or an online portal, Alonso said. That only works if companies have a system in place to isolate or sequester individuals who may be infected.

"It works a little bit like the honor system," Alonso said. Employees who have high temperatures could then do their own contact tracing to see who they may have exposed to infection within the organization.

That does bring up a serious issue: How do employers balance safety with the privacy concerns of their employees?

After a serious flu outbreak in 1905, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of safety over privacy, Alonso said.

"The idea is that there's a precedent establishing that safety supersedes privacy concerns," Alonso said. Some employers may take that a step further, asking employees to sign waivers that they will share some health information to ensure safety.

"So, they're asking employees to make that decision," Alonso said. He said he expects most large employers to find a "middle ground" on that issue with their employees, using temperature checks and a sequestering system to ensure safety.

And similar to how taking off your shoes and ditching your liquids became commonplace in airports following 9/11, it's likely we'll get used to our temperatures being checked in office buildings across the US and the globe.

Immunity passports

Employees will likely have to start sharing their health data with employers to return to the office, experts say.

This could take the form of an "immunity passport," where those who have taken antibody tests and have recent temperature data can share those results with employers and be allowed back into the office — provided they were found to have the coronavirus antibodies and do not have fevers, said Alonso of SHRM.

However, there is no clear indication that those individuals who were found to have coronavirus antibodies are immune from getting reinfected, according to the World Health Organization. Alonso cautioned that these immunity passports can be difficult to implement, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach for any company.

That being said, Alonso thinks it's likely that organizations will start buying or developing technology that can implement these passports on a wider scale. These could take the form of a wristband or even an app or online portal where employees self-report their temperature and test results.

As with temperature checks, it's also a careful balance between staying safe and keeping some data private from employers, Alonso said.

Regular cleaning, skeleton crews, and more fresh air

Offices will need to be cleaned regularly, and offer employees much more space — and fresh, circulating air — than they previously did, experts say.

One easy way to do that would be to rotate workers — say, 30% of the workforce comes in each day — or have the employees who are able to work from home remain doing so to lessen the load on the office, Vela of PBGH said.

"There are lots of jobs where employees can be pretty productive from home," Vela said.

Other companies might move to a "hoteling" model, already common at bigger consulting firms, where employees frequently travel between offices, Vela said. Instead of having one desk for each employee, companies may have desks for half their employees at any given time, and employees would simply pop their laptops into a work station when it's their turn to come into the office.

On top of that, desks wouldn't contain anyone's personal belongings, so they could easily be cleaned and sanitized each night.

"I think we're going to see a lot of janitorial services do well," Vela said.

• With colleges' reopening plans for the fall semester uncertain in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, more students are considering taking a gap year.
• A gap year is a year-long break from school for personal growth.
• Gap years are typically taken between high school and college, and they look different for each person. Universities like Harvard encourage students to use this time to work, travel, and refresh before their next pursuit.
• Scott Galloway, bestselling author and top-ranked professor at NYU's Stern School of Business, recommends taking a gap year during the pandemic. "We as academics need a year to figure this out," he said.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As the coronavirus spread across the globe, colleges and universities were forced to make a series of abrupt adjustments.

Schools closed their campuses in the middle of the spring semester and sent students home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. In-person classes were replaced with online coursework and virtual lectures. Commencement ceremonies and graduation parties were replaced with virtual conferences and video games.

The changes could continue well past the spring semester, too. Several schools predict that remote learning may continue through the fall semester because vaccines will likely only be available for emergency use, if at all, by fall and winter of 2020.

With the great state of uncertainty surrounding college reopenings in the fall, more students are considering another option: a gap year.

Christopher Rim is a college admissions consultant and the CEO of Command Education. In an email to Business Insider, he said the gap year idea is already catching on among his students.

"Almost all of my students who have been admitted to top-tier colleges are reconsidering their plans for this upcoming academic year, with some submitting gap year request forms to delay the start of their freshman year so that they can have the full college experience," Rim said.

If you're considering taking a gap year during this time, here's what you need to know.

What is a gap year?

A gap year is a year-long break taken after years of schooling.

Gap years are typically taken between graduating high school and beginning college, or between undergraduate school and a career or graduate school. The point of a gap year is to give students a chance to have new experiences, grow, and figure out what they want to do next. 

Karl Haigler, co-author of the book "The Gap-Year Advantage," found that the two most common reasons students take a gap year are burnout from the competitive pressure of high school and a desire to know more about themselves. 

In 2010, The Wall Street Journal reported that while gap years have been common in England for a long time, they've been gaining traction in the US thanks to organized programs.

How many students take a gap year?

While there are no official statistics on how many students take gap years in the US, the Gap Year Association tracks data for some gap year programs. Of the 38 programs surveyed, 23 programs reported an enrollment increase from 2017 to 2018. Overall, general enrollment in all programs increased by 2%.

In March, higher-education research and marketing firm SimpsonScarborough surveyed 1,100 current high school seniors and college students in the US. According to the survey, around 3% of incoming college freshmen typically take a gap year. Of the current high school seniors surveyed, 12% are now saying they will take one in light of the pandemic if colleges only reopen online in the fall.

How do students usually spend their gap year?

Malia Obama famously took a gap year in 2017 before enrolling in Harvard. During this time, she traveled and worked in politics and film.

In an interview with TV presenter Jonathon Ross, author J.K. Rowling said she took a gap year in 1991 following her mother's death to teach English in Porto, Portugal, where she wrote her favorite chapter of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," titled "The Mirror of Erised."

According to data collected by the Gap Year Association, when deciding to take a gap year, students report that they are most influenced by opportunities to travel, grow personally, and take a break from their academic track. Other heavily influencing factors include opportunities to volunteer, learn a new language, explore college and career options, and gain work experience. 

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, gap year plans like traveling are less feasible, but there are several options for volunteer work if you are healthy.

Why are the benefits of taking a gap year?

Robert Clagett, a former dean of admissions at Middlebury College and former senior admissions official at Harvard, previously described the way that taking a gap year can impact students. Students who elect to take a gap year, Clagett said, "will frequently be more mature, more focused, and more aware of what they want to do with their college education" when they enter college.

Research at Middlebury backs this, stating that students who took a gap year have shown a "clear pattern" of attaining higher GPAs than those who didn't take gap years.

Now, as schools pivot to adjust to the coronavirus pandemic, experts predict there could be a surge in gap year interest.

Much of the college experience occurs outside of classwork. As NYU professor Scott Galloway told Business Insider, people are realizing Zoom classes alone are not worth the cost of tuition.

"I think a gap year in deferring 2021 is going to be what I'd call a disruptive but a terrible year for the end consumer, as we as academics try to maintain this hallucination that we can continue to charge what we're charging for a totally substandard experience via Zoom," Galloway told Business Insider.

Rim, the college consultant, said he thinks so many students will apply for a gap year that colleges might stop allowing applicants to request it. Too many deferrals could substantially shrink the incoming class, which would mean less tuition going to schools — and some colleges are already on the brink of closure.

"It's a little uncertain how colleges are going to approve or deny gap year requests," Rim, the college consultant, said, adding that many of the students he helped get into top schools have said they want to take gap years.

SEE ALSO: What the top 25 colleges and universities in the US have said about their plans to reopen in fall 2020, from postponing the semester to offering more remote coursework

DON'T MISS: Why high school juniors could be big losers in the coronavirus pandemic

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NOW WATCH: Here's what it's like to travel during the coronavirus outbreak

• The second round of the Payroll Protection Program is underway, and loans are starting to reach business owners struggling with the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
• For independent restaurateurs however, the terms of the program don't make economic sense, as public health concerns force them to operate at reduced capacity.
• A survey by reservation platform OpenTable shows that a quarter of the million restaurants in the US will permanently close as a result of the disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic.
• One group representing over 51,000 local restaurants is asking Congress for a $120 billion fund to allow independent eateries to weather the next 12 to 18 months of modified business.
• Visit BI Prime for more stories.

As the second round of Payroll Protection Program loans are doled out and funding starts to hit borrowers' bank accounts, restaurant owners are voicing concerns about what they see as major flaws in the program's design.

"This is a Swiss cheese piece of legislation," said chef and TV host Andrew Zimmern on a recent conference call hosted by the Independent Restaurant Coalition that Business Insider attended.

"It's an eight-week bandaid that doesn't match the 12- to 18-month challenge that lies ahead," he said, in reference to the terms of the PPP loans, which tie loan forgiveness to businesses using funds within only two-months and spending 75% of it on payroll. The kicker is that most restaurants will not be able to operate at full capacity over the next two months.

Zimmern is one of more than 31,000 signatories of a letter from the IRC to Congress, calling for a $120 billion relief fund for small, local restaurants who have been slammed by the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Sam Kass, a chef-turned-political adviser, said on the call that the group's request was based on an accounting of the forecasted losses the industry will suffer as a result of mandated closures and changing social behavior.

A survey from reservation platform OpenTable found that a quarter of the million restaurants in the US are expected to close as a result of the pandemic.

The IRC estimates that independent restaurants contribute $1 trillion per year and 11 million jobs to the US economy. Zimmern also highlighted the central role restaurants play in the larger economic and business environment, indirectly supporting as many as 50 million other jobs from farm-worker to table-linen launderer.

"Restaurants are the backbone of communities across America," said DC celebrity chef Jose Andrés. "Nobody works harder than the people that make up this big family."

David Traxler, owner of Full Commission, a Southern gastropub in Atlanta, told Business Insider that although he received a PPP loan it doesn't make business sense for him to use the money right now.

"We don't have the business right now to bring back a full staff to sit in a building that only serves to-go food," he said. "It's tricky timing."

Andrew Volk of the Portland Hunt and Alpine Club in Maine said he had his PPP loan funds deposited into a "completely clean" bank account, and hasn't touched a penny of it due to concerns that he won't be able to meet the conditions for forgiveness.

On a press call last week with the Main Street Alliance that Business Insider attended, Volk explained he could not afford to re-hire his employees in time to get the loan forgiven, and that his business cannot take on any additional debt.

And another trade group told the Financial Times that many restaurant owners who have received PPP funds are "highly likely" to pay them back in full before the first payment is due six months from now.

Several restaurant owners on the call described how low profit margins and existing debt make it impossible for them to take on new loans — even low-cost ones, like the 1% interest rate on any unforgiven portion of a PPP loan.

"PPP doesn't work for us," said New Orleans chef Nina Compton. "Getting forgiveness is impossible."

SEE ALSO: Your sneak peek at the government's new $320 billion relief bill for businesses, and what it will mean for entrepreneurs desperate for cash

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• The Paycheck Protection Program's official guidelines for forgiveness state that 75% of loans must be used toward payroll to be forgiven.
• But some businesses are considering the payoff of using the loan for long-term investments, even if it means paying it back later.
• And while it might not be possible to use all the funds within the allotted eight weeks, it might make sense to use it on other important ventures.
• Some small businesses are using funds on prime real estate, others are considering how to bolster their tech presence, and many are thinking about human capital.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Just as the coronavirus itself has impacted various regions of the US differently, the funding doled out by the federal government through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has had a wide range of effects on the businesses of entrepreneurs in diverse corners of the country.

While the program's official guidelines for forgiveness state that 75% of PPP proceeds must be used toward payroll in order to have the loan forgiven, borrowers across the country are getting creative with their funds in order to get the most bang for their buck, depending on their geography. 

New York entrepreneurs focus spending on location, location, location

In New York City, where real estate is pricey, Teddy Panterov, founder of Central Park Tours and Broadway Pass, used his PPP funds to negotiate a lower rate on real estate for the coming months.

"My most creative use of the funds was to prepay for two months on two of our locations near Times Square, and by doing this I was able to negotiate a lower rent for the next year," Panterov told Business Insider. "I think it is a win-win situation as landlords in New York know that finding a new tenant will be extremely difficult."

Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, Broadway Pass had 26 full-time employees. It was just announced that Broadway theatres will remain dark until September 6, so Panterov is using his remaining funds to go ahead and bring back six of his essential employees, saying that he's confident that his companies will be able to bounce back once the economy fully reopens. 

Location is also the essence of the matter for Brooklyn-based Leslie Nilsson, founder and creative director of Bartleby & Sage, a catering and event-planning company. With a staff of 10 full-time employees and 39 part-time workers and freelancers, Nilsson is using her extra funds to provide options for clients who want to get out of New York City for events. 

"I'm expanding my business to the Hudson Valley, where I have a second office, so that I can offer my clients alternative wedding venues if they are nervous about still having their weddings in the city," Nilsson said. "I also want to hire an additional salesperson and start expanding the business in anticipation of getting back open."

One Bay Area event planner makes a tech-based business pivot 

As is fitting for someone with a client base of Silicon Valley blue-chippers, Natasha Miller's company Entire Productions has plowed its PPP funding into a pivot with a lot of tech cred: becoming the go-to for hosting virtual events.

"We're being looked at as one of the experts and we're getting requests for proposals from all over the world because, thankfully, virtual events can be done from wherever you are," Miller said. "Now, time zones are a little challenging — we've had a client from Hong Kong and from the UK call us ... [but] we can certainly make that work." 

Miller took the plunge to produce and fund a series of virtual events that showcase what such productions could look like for her clients. She is digitally hosting performers who present variety shows on a weekly basis that interrupt the monotony of the pandemic while promoting her company's new skill set at the same time.

"We hunkered down and learned immediately. We were the first to market with a variety show that was a proof-of-concept and also a creative way for us to dig our way out of feeling so bad," she said. "This content enables us to show people not 'Hey, we can do this,' but 'Hey, we are doing this,' and that's what has helped us get people's attention."

Other entrepreneurs are mulling the choice to use the funds as a loan

Drew Johnson, owner of party-boat company Lagerhead Cycleboats in South Florida, missed out on what would have been the apex of business for the year because of strict social-distancing regulations in his three markets — Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, and Key West. While his overriding concern is for his team of 15 employees, almost all of them part time, Johnson told Business Insider that he and his partner are considering forgoing forgiveness and reinvesting the funds on a longer-term basis. 

"We're thinking outside the box to see what works best for our employees because some of them might be able to do better with unemployment than what we could pay them, especially considering that we can't return to operations at this point," Johnson said. "Worst-case scenario, we have a low-interest rate loan — it's lower than our SBA loan that we have now, so it's possible that we could use these funds to just pay that loan off and save the rest for our bills and expenses and see if we can survive a little longer."

Johnson said there has been one silver lining to the financial hardship this crisis has brought on.  

"We did find out that the government will forgive six months of payments on our existing SBA loan, and that really helped us out a lot," he said. 

Johnson may be weighing his options, but Calloway Cook, president of Illuminate Labs, a four-person manufacturer in Northampton, Massachusetts, is definitely planning to convert his PPP funds to a loan.

"That interest rate is incredibly low, and since I'm the only W2 employee of my business, it makes more sense to use it for business operations and to extend our runway during this challenging economic time," he told Business Insider.

Wilfrid Baptiste, principal of Financial Blind Spot, a business and insurance advisory based in Yonkers, New York, said he's talked to a number of business owners who are realizing they may not be able to use the funds within the allotted eight weeks from loan origination, or that from a long-term perspective the best use of funds for their company simply may not be spending 75% of them on payroll. 

"They're making the conscious decision to sit on the capital at 1% and not take the forgiveness," Baptiste said. "They're biting the bullet and just deciding that this money is going to be seed money. They have six months before they're going to have to start making their first payments, and my advice would be: Don't be in a rush before you start making your first payment — just wait and see how things play out." 

Thomas Ruchti, assistant professor of accounting at Carnegie Mellon University, said that liquidity is most likely not going to be getting better, so keeping the funds on hand may make sense for many of these borrowers.

"If this crisis continues at all, a lot of those businesses are going to have trouble getting a traditional loan — so when you're offered a pretty sizable loan, with six months of no payments, you should take advantage of it, especially during a pandemic," he said. 

NOW READ: Fraud related to small business loans is on the rise — and the federal government is on high alert. Here's how to protect yourself in case of an audit or investigation.

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NOW WATCH: Why thoroughbred horse semen is the world's most expensive liquid

• An estate chef quarantined with his employers in the Hamptons gave Business Insider details on his day-to-day.
• He's making lunch and dinner for a family of five and two other households of six people each, and he hasn't gotten a raise for it.
• Grocery shopping, he said, is "like a war zone" but he still needs to deliver what his employers want during lockdown.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Imagine having to quarantine with your boss.

That's the case for one estate chef in the Hamptons, whose work days are spent chopping away at the kitchen counter for a family of five.

The chef, who wanted to stay anonymous for privacy reasons but whose identity Business Insider was able to verify, said he never gave much thought to the possibility of quarantining with the family but that the subject came up naturally in late February. As he tells it, his employers anticipated ensuing chaos before the coronavirus was even declared a pandemic and asked him not to leave the property unless going grocery shopping, even on his days off.

He said he stayed out of respect and partly because he was afraid of being furloughed, although his employers never insinuated that would happen during the request. "They're kind of freaked out, and I've become family to them," said the chef, who has spent four years working for them. "Plus, I'm not exactly roughing it in the guest house."

He says he's currently staying in one of several guest houses on the three-acre estate, which also includes an eight-bedroom main house. The chef, who lives by himself in a non-quarantine world, doesn't have family quarantining away from him but says he misses his own shower and bed.

More work, same pay

The chef wasn't offered a raise for quarantine, but he's still found himself taking on more work than normal since he's the only household staff member working. The four other housekeepers, he said, are all quarantined in their own homes.

Because of this, he's had to become a jack of all trades. He said he's tried to "step up" by acting as a partial house manager, whether by picking up stuff around the house or desanitizing all packages that come in. "It's more of a juggling act now," said the chef, who dons a mask and gloves while working.

In the kitchen, the chef isn't just whipping up lunch and dinner for his clients, but for two other households — the employer's friends, both families of six — who live nearby and don't have the luxury of a private chef quarantined with them. He said he packages their meals in takeout boxes and each family's household manager comes by every day to pick up each meal.

These families also aren't paying him, he said, although one gave him a bottle of tequila as a thank you gift. According to him, cooking for more than one family isn't unheard of in the Hamptons right now.

But the chef is managing this all in his typical 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. shift. Instead of picking up more hours, he said, he's increased his time management.

It also helps that he has access to two ovens and a double oven, which allows him to cook multiple meals at once. He's also making less snacks during lockdown as the boss has complained that "her clothes don't fit," he said.

Grocery shopping is "like a war zone"

The chef told us that the biggest challenge during lockdown has been that "the needs and wants of the clients don't change."

In the midst of a pandemic, delivering those needs requires creativity. Consider the time the chef needed to serve filet mignon. He couldn't find it anywhere the week his employers requested it, so he bought ribeye instead and had the butcher cut it thicker and shape it like a filet. "You have to make it happen," he said.

The chef began stockpiling goods when he was first asked to quarantine and says he stays stocked on pantry staples for three weeks ahead. Regardless, he still shops twice a day, in the morning and after lunch, to accommodate the needs of his clients and whatever they want to eat that day.

While there's not a massive food shortage, he said, it's still difficult to obtain some ingredients like flour and yeast. Like many other places, the Hamptons had been out of those baking staples for a month, he said. 

It's resulted in what the chef dubs "drug deals" among the Hamptons chefs, who meet in grocery store parking lots to trade off yeast for flour, the latter of which is sometimes substituted with cocoa powder. The chef has also taken to ordering some from Baldor, an online food purveyor, when he's required to make bread.

Joe Gurrera, owner of Epicurean market Citarella, where the chef likes to shop, also told Business Insider that flour has been hard to come by. While most stock is pretty constant, he said, "From time to time we come across an item that we can't get for a few days, particularly something like chicken because not all the processing plants are open."

While Gurrera saw a "tidal wave" of panic buying in the beginning of lockdown, customers have since realized Citarella is constantly replenishing and have cooled off on their stockpiling. But it's still busy, he said.

The chef said that grocery stores have been packed, and there's always a line to get in that he tries to skip by entering through the back of the meat department. He likened it to peak summer season or a "war zone." Apparently, in the Hamptons, they mean the same thing.

Are you a household staff member quarantining with your boss? We'd like to hear from you. Email hhoffower@businessinsider.com.

SEE ALSO: Some wealthy homeowners — like Martha Stewart — are quarantining with their staff and paying a premium for live-in service

DON'T MISS: Rich urbanites are fleeing big cities and draining resources in smaller, more remote vacation spots. Here's where they're going — and how the locals feel about it.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why electric planes haven't taken off yet

• As the coronavirus began to spread throughout the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidelines for how to stay safe and avoid contracting the virus.
• While they do encourage those diagnosed with or showing symptoms of the COVID-19 virus to take appropriate measures, they acknowledge that everyone wearing face masks is unlikely to be very effective.
•  So why are so many people rushing to buy face masks? 
• Psychotherapist Amy Morin explains that wearing the masks does more for our mental health than our physical well-being, by soothing our anxiety and giving us the illusion of being in control.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a warning guide to Americans that the coronavirus outbreak was fast approaching. This news caused face mask sales to skyrocket, despite the fact that wearing one probably won't protect you from contracting the illness.

Of course, it's considered a social norm in some cultures to wear a face mask somewhat regularly. In China, Japan, and South Korea, face masks may be worn to reduce risks associated with air pollution. They may also be worn as a way to protect others from illness in collectivist cultures.

Yet more and more people are walking around wearing face masks, even as suppliers increase the prices.

So why do so many people want to cover up their faces if it doesn't help? It actually has more to do with their mental health than their physical health.

SEE ALSO: People are racing to buy face masks amid the coronavirus outbreak, but they probably won't protect you from illness

DON'T MISS: 7 things mental health experts wish you knew about anxiety

We fear unknown risks

We grow comfortable with the risks we take on a regular basis. Perhaps you drive your car every day. You likely don't feel scared when you get behind the wheel. You might even reply to text messages occasionally or forget to buckle up when driving. 

But according to statistics, driving a car is a big risk. You have about a one in 103 chance of dying in a car crash. It just doesn't feel scary because it's a familiar risk you take.

The coronavirus isn't familiar. So you're uncomfortable with the risk of contracting it, and possibly dying from it. You likely have a bigger fear of it than of crashing your car.

Media consumption also fuels fears. Whether scrolling through social media or flipping through channels, reports about death tolls and the speed at which coronavirus is spreading are everywhere. The more content consumed, the more likely you are to overestimate chances of contracting the coronavirus — and the more likely your anxiety levels will skyrocket.

We struggle with 'the illusion of control'

When we feel anxious about something, we become desperate to gain some sense of control over the situation.

It's a phenomenon psychologists call the "illusion of control."  And research shows we often make strange decisions based on our perceived level of control. 

For example, research shows most people think they are less likely to get into an accident when driving a car, as opposed to being the passenger. Being in the driver's seat makes people think they can prevent accidents — even though it doesn't really guarantee this at all.

Similarly, studies also show that people think they have a better chance of winning the lottery when they pick their own numbers, as opposed to allowing the computer to pick for them. Even though the numbers are drawn randomly, people are more likely to assume that having more control (picking their own numbers) increases their chances of success.

When it comes to the coronavirus, most of us likely feel we have little control over whether we contract it. And little is known about what might happen if we get it.

Wearing a face mask is one way to convince ourselves that we have some control over it. We tell ourselves, "Wearing this mask decreases my chances of getting sick." This, in turn, reduces our anxiety.

Rather than idly waiting for something bad to happen, we feel better if we take some sort of action. Even if the action isn't helpful, we have a way of fooling ourselves into believing that our behavior has control over the outcome.

We overcompensate when safeguards are in place

Interestingly, research also reveals the tendency to overcompensate when there are "safeguards" in place. Studies have shown that people are more likely to speed when wearing seatbelts.

And insurance companies have even discovered that drivers actually become more reckless when there are more safety features on a car.

This mentality may be one reason why so many people wearing face masks could even be detrimental in certain ways. They have convinced themselves that their face masks will protect them. So rather than reducing contact with the public as is suggested, people who are wearing face masks may actually become more likely to travel or interact with people.

The herd mentality is real

The herd mentality is real — and research shows that most of us jump on bandwagons. So the more you see other people wearing a face mask, the more likely you are to put one on. 

Researchers have known for a long time that people are susceptible to "behavioral mimicry," meaning we're quick to copy those around us. So whether you're walking through a marketplace, riding the subway, or sitting on a plane, the more people you see wearing face masks, the more likely you are to convince yourself that you should wear one, too. Not wearing one might even cause you to feel anxious.

The mask-wearers are more visible than people who are taking recommended precautions (washing their hands more often and limiting travel). This can cause you to assume everyone is wearing a mask.

It reduces our anxiety

Most of us equate anxiety with risk level. If we feel really anxious, we reason that something must be really risky. And if we can reduce that anxiety, we'll convince ourselves that the level of risk we face is somehow lower.

So even though we've been warned that wearing a face mask might be a bad idea, doing so might still have the effect of reducing anxiety. 

While it's up to you whether you decide to wear a mask, consider why you're doing it. Even though medical professionals might warn against it, you might find it gives you a little peace of mind — which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

• To practice safe social distancing, my friends and I are staying far apart from each other.
• That means we won't be able to play Settlers of Catan, the popular board game, together anytime soon.
• So we, like many millennials, turned to the Internet for answers, and played an online version called Catan Universe.
• We used a Zoom chat to see each other while playing, and while our first game was a little rocky, it eventually turned into a delightful Catan game.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, options for entertainment can seem a little limited. As an extrovert who loves playing games with friends, I've been on FaceTime every night with friends, but it's not the same as the semi-regular board game cafe excursions we enjoy (we miss you Hex & Company!).

In particular, we wanted to play our beloved Settlers of Catan— a board game where you strategically build roads and settlements to acquire resources, rob other players, and acquire victory points. The first settler to reach 10 victory points wins. I am very bad at Catan, but I love my friends and being competitive, so I was excited to coordinate an online game.

Enter: Settlers of Catan-tine. I had heard about some friends getting creative and texting photos of boards back and forth, but we decided to use app/video game Catan Universe. You can play Catan Universe on your browser, download it as an app on Google or Android, or play it via Steam, an online game platform.

It's free to play, but you can buy "Catan Gold" within it to unlock features like different theme sets and expansions; 100 pieces of Catan Gold are $.99.

We started with four players: me from my childhood home in Boston; my friend Adam, who is currently quarantined after being evacuated from Spain; my roommate Rose, who remains in New York; and my friend Asya, who is also self-isolating in New York. 

All of us except for Rose played on browser; she played via Steam. One drawback of the game is that there's no video or audio option for players to communicate through (although there is a chatbox) so we set up a separate Zoom call and pinned it. Here's how it worked.

SEE ALSO: Virtual beer pong and Zoom dinner dates: 9 creative ways millennials are staying connected with their friends while self-isolating at home

First, we had to set up our accounts on Catan Universe.

I had to enter my email and create a username and password.

Next, we had to activate our accounts. This sounds simple, but it wasn't immediately clear that activation codes were sent to our emails.

Adam criticized us for not being great at creating new accounts. My counterpoint: Many platforms let you log in with accounts from social media, so I hadn't been sent an activation code in a while.

Next up was our first big challenge: creating a game. First, we had to add each other as friends. Turns out, it's actually pretty easy. First, you click on the top left diamond with your profile.

Then, click the "friends" option from the dropdown menu that appears.

Next, you'll see this screen. This is where Zoom came in handy: We told Adam all of our usernames and he added us. On each of our screens, a little pop-up window told us he had added us.

Here is Adam screensharing to try and explain to us how to add friends (it took him a little while). He was frustrated with our technological incompetence, but nevertheless we remained friends.

While Catan is generally played with four players, we quickly realized that Catan Universe was optimized for three players.

Technically, the game required us to buy an expansion for all of us to play.

We were able to use a "scroll" to unlock four player capabilities — we had all been automatically given two upon enrolling in Catan Universe — but we couldn't customize the game at all. This became a big problem later on.

To start a game, you have to click the game token — the brown one on the left — at the bottom of the screen.

We had to use "auto match" to play our game of four players. We all put in the same specifications so we would be matched with each other: We chose a custom board, all opted for four players, and indicated we only wanted to be matched with friends.

Important to note is that you all need to do this at the same time. The first time we tried, Rose was too late and we got matched with a (presumably) AI player named Melua. We had to end that game. Sorry Melua.

At long last, it was time to start the game. The board set itself and chose who went first. The rules were the same as in the board game: Every player got to put down one road and one settlement. I was selected last, so I got to place two roads and two settlements.

I could drop my roads and cities by clicking on those dots.

Finally, after everyone else went, it was my turn to roll the dice. All I had to do was click them — everyone with settlements on the corresponding pieces automatically received their cards. The dice are on the bottom right side of the screen.

Automatically receiving cards was a great feature of the game — it's definitely one of the trickier aspects of in-person game play.

To trade with another player or the bank, you have to click a little symbol on the left side of the screen. It looks like a money pouch with a recycling sign overlaid on it.

The symbol directly to the left of it — a money pouch with the recycling sign and an "x" — closes you off to trades, if you want to be unfriendly and/or mean.

If you're making a trade, you indicate what resource you have, and what you want. All other players get a pop-up with the proposed trade. Here's Adam trading with me.

To place a road or settlement, once I had the necessary materials, I could click on them during my turn. Then, I could click where I wanted to place the materials. Here's me expanding my empire.

Same deal with development cards: I could just click that black stack of them to the right.

We were finally getting the hang of it when I accidentally happened upon the reason that you want to play a custom match: There's an auto timer on each turn. If you don't press "end turn" — the black circle on the bottom right side of the screen — at the end of your turn, you get a message telling you you'll be kicked out of the game. So yes, I got kicked out ... and was replaced by an evil AI version of myself.

I accidentally timed out three times, as I was taking too long to document the game for this article, and got kicked out. But an AI version of me continued to play as the game continued — and apparently she was quite mean.

I did not want my Catan identity to be stolen further, so we decided to end the game early and regroup later. I like to think that AI Juliana, wherever she is, is crushing someone else at Catan.

We started a new game later that night, this time only with three players. This made all the difference — we could select who was in the game and turn off the auto timer.

This time it was just Rose, Adam, and me. Asya was taking a 9 p.m. nap, so she sat this one out.

From there, we jumped right in. We were pretty much pros at this point. Here I am playing the Knight, a development card that allows me to steal from the other players.

Adam was right: I did steal from him. At this point, our game was chugging along — we were executing trades, building roads, and playing much like we would have in person.

Not to fear: Adam still won. It was a little more abrupt than our usual game ending, because there's ordinarily some human error (and time) involved in calculating victory points. But Catan Universe processed his win immediately.

Overall, I had a great time. It helped us feel a little bit normal during these trying times, and I felt like I got better at Catan. I had a few major takeaways.

I felt like we lost some of the silliness for Catan — for instance, I didn't get to do my favorite bit, which is where I trade a different player for the exact same card. It was also frustrating to coordinate Zoom with the game; our free call ran out twice while playing.

That being said, the efficiency of card distribution and counting was a huge win. Those things often bog us down during in-person games.

I came away from the experience with some tips for anyone hoping to start their own virtual Catan game.

1. Sync up with Zoom. Try to have someone with a paid subscription host it; otherwise, you'll have to start multiple free 40-minute meetings.
2. Remember to end your turn properly. Don't be like me and accidentally time out.
3. Do a practice round before you start properly. Our second round was much smoother and more enjoyable.
4. Considering buying expansions if you're consistently having four players on the board. That being said, it probably can be done for free with a little practice — and it seems like we'll have plenty of time to practice.

If you're looking to capture the spirit of Catan, this is a great option. Alternatives like Colonist.io also do a good job of recreating the game, although Catan Universe seems to be the most similar to the actual board game.

Hopefully we'll be back together soon, but in the meantime, I'll be pinning some Zoom chats and trying to build virtual longest road.

• "Ask A Manager" is a blog run by Alison Green, a workplace advice columnist and the author of Ask a Manager: How to Navigate Clueless Colleagues, Lunch-Stealing Bosses, and the Rest of Your Life at Work.
• She recently offered advice to employees whose companies aren't reacting appropriately — whether by offering inadequate solutions or none at all — to the global pandemic and surrounding panic.
• Green recommends that employees band together to make their concerns known to upper management, speak with their HR representative, and advocate for fellow colleagues. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

I am getting a lot of mail about the coronavirus, and one common theme is employers who aren't acting with any urgency at all — not having people work from home where they can, not canceling travel or events, etc. Here's some advice if you're in that situation.

SEE ALSO: Read the letter one of Belgium's top virologists sent his children with exact steps on how to keep their families safe during a pandemic

DON'T MISS: Google spent a decade studying what makes a 'perfect' manager and found there's a striking way that the best ones delegate their tasks

1. One of the most effective things you can do is to band together with other coworkers and push back as a group

It is much harder to ignore a group of employees than one person.

2. Try peer pressure

Cite the many large companies — Facebook, Google, Microsoft, IBM, and more — that have instructed employees to work from home. Point out that it's not only socially responsible but also smart for business, and companies are making it work. Share the CDC guide for employers.

3. Talk about your company's obligations to its workers, many of whom will be in higher-risk groups or live with people who are, but also, appeal to their own self-interest

If they let the virus spread in their workforce, far more employees are going to be sick and unable to work than if they take precautions now. Point out that it's better to figure out arrangements now than to be in a mad scramble when things change in your area overnight.

4. If your company has said it encourages people to work from home but your own manager isn't backing that up, talk to HR

While approving remote work might normally be up to individual managers, there's a good chance that in this situation your company doesn't want individual managers undermining its virus prevention efforts.

5. If your company hasn't approved remote work for people whose jobs can be done from home and you are in a higher-risk group, say you need an exception

Talk to your manager or HR and say, "I am in a higher-risk group for coronavirus and will need to work from home until the government is no longer advising that higher-risk people distance themselves from groups." Note that language — "will need." You're telling them, not asking. (In reality, they can still say no — but framing it as of course they'll agree to let you follow public health recommendations will help.)

Use the same approach if you live with someone in a higher risk group.

6. If you can work from home and you're choosing not to, please reconsider

There are many people who can't work from home, and you're putting them at higher risk by adding to the number of people they're forced to come in contact with.

7. "Stay home if you feel sick" is not a good enough policy

The symptoms of coronavirus take four to five days to show up. Someone who comes to work looking and feeling well can transmit the virus. By the time someone feels sick, it's too late; they will have already been infecting people.

8. If you're job searching and are invited to interview in-person, it's completely reasonable right now to ask to do it by phone or video chat

If a company isn't open to that in these circumstances, that's a serious red flag about them in general.

9. Be an ally to others

Insist your company take action even if you personally don't feel at risk. If a coworker's not getting something they need, add your voice to theirs. Advocate for paid sick time for anyone in your company who doesn't get it. Push your employer to lift limits on sick leave, provide extra PTO, and generally make it as easy as possible for people to stay home. Ask about what your vendors are doing for their people. Tell your members of Congress you want more aid to affected workers, including people who can't work from home, and people who won't be able to pay their rent and mortgages because of income loss. And don't make people feel they're overreacting when they take precautions.

This column originally appeared on the Ask A Manager blog by Alison Green. It has been reprinted here with permission. 

Alison Green was once the chief of staff for a successful nonprofit, where she was responsible for the hiring, firing, promoting, and managing of employees. She is the author of Ask a Manager: How to Navigate Clueless Colleagues, Lunch-Stealing Bosses, and the Rest of Your Life at Work.

• Soon after President Donald Trump passed a momentous $2.2 trillion stimulus package, he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said another relief bill might be necessary. 
• Pelosi and House Democrats just unveiled their $3 trillion proposal for the next stimulus, which could be the largest relief package in US history. The House aims to vote on the next package, called "CARES 2," on May 14, per Fox News. 
• The package — which would be the fourth stimulus related to the coronavirus pandemic — may include another round of direct payments to Americans, as more than 33 million jobless claims have been filed over the past 7 weeks.
• Here's what the major party stakeholders — including Trump, Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — are hoping the next stimulus package looks like. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The federal government made history in March when it passed into law a $2.2 trillion stimulus package, including an unprecedented expansion of unemployment benefits and a massive $349 billion small-business-lending program.

The law was the third stimulus package designed as relief for the coronavirus pandemic — but it might not have been enough. Now, Fox reports that House members are set to vote on a fourth stimulus package on May 14 — this time to the tune of $3 trillion. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a floor speech on May 12, the day the House bill was introduced, that it has "no chance of becoming law," Business Insider reported.

The outbreak, which has infected more than 1.2 million Americans, has shuttered nonessential businesses in most states, including many in hospitality and food services, and led to a record amount of jobless claims: more than 33 million over seven weeks.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was an early voice saying that even the massive third stimulus package wasn't big enough. She has advocated for another round of direct payments to Americans like the $1,200 checks sent to people as part of the "phase three" package.

President Donald Trump, who is seeking reelection, also said in March that he was eyeing more spending, tweeting his support for an infrastructure-focused relief bill to the tune of $2 trillion.

Meanwhile, the states and cities that have shouldered much of the economic impact of the pandemic — from bidding on PPE and ventilators in the absence of a coordinated national effort to administering the exploding number of unemployment claims— are asking for relief that was missing from phase three.

The National Governors Association asked for $500 billion of federal aid on April 11, and the National League of Cities and U.S. Conference of Mayors asked for another $250 billion on April 16. But that's not all: public education systems asked for $200 billion on April 28, and departments of transportation asked for $50 billion on April 6.

Here's where a "phase-four" package stands — and what major stakeholders want it to include.

SEE ALSO: The pandemic is giving the US a chance to fix its embarrassing unemployment benefits. Top economists tell us what the future of this crucial system could look like.

Pelosi wants a retroactive SALT rollback and more money for states and local governments as part of a $3 trillion package.

The House bill, which Democrats are calling the Heroes Act, would provide $1 trillion in additional aid to states and cities who have services essential workers like first responders and healthcare workers during the pandemic. 

Other measures include providing $75 billion for coronavirus testing and tracing, doling out more $1,200 direct payments to individuals (up to $6,000 per household), extending weekly $600 federal unemployment benefits through January 2021, and giving renters and homeowners $175 billion in aid.

Pelosi told The New York Times in March that her preference for a phase four would include some kind of retroactive rollback of the limit on the state and local tax deduction. Part of the tax cut passed in 2017, the SALT policy change especially hurt high earners in states like New York and Pelosi's California. Rolling it back would increase tax rebates for about 13 million households, according to The Times' estimates, nearly all of them earning at least $100,000. This provision apparently made it into the Heroes Act, the Huffington Post's Tara Golshan noted.

Though many Americans taxpayers received stimulus checks of up to $1,200 for single filers and up to $2,400 for married couples in April, congressional Democrats have said that the $1,200 check — which barely covers what the average American spends on rent and utilities— doesn't go far enough.

Trump is eyeing a major investment in infrastructure — and a 'sanctuary city' trade-off.

In a tweet, Trump said infrastructure should be the focal point of the phase-four stimulus package. Aid to healthcare and broadband infrastructure will likely get bipartisan support in Congress, according to The Hill.

"With interest rates for the United States being at ZERO, this is the time to do our decades long awaited Infrastructure Bill," the president wrote on March 31. "It should be VERY BIG & BOLD, Two Trillion Dollars, and be focused solely on jobs and rebuilding the once great infrastructure of our Country! Phase 4."

Roughly four weeks later, at a White House event with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump revealed something else he wants in a stimulus package: he suggested he would only support federal aid for beleaguered state and city governments in exchange for a relaxation of "sanctuary city" policies.

Trump has long sought to punish sanctuary cities and states that have policies to limit or refuse cooperation with the federal government's immigration enforcement. He said in March that he would withhold federal funds to them.

On May 5, Trump returned to an idea he had suggested in March: a payroll tax cut. "The elimination of Sanctuary Cities, Payroll Taxes, and perhaps Capital Gains Taxes, must be put on the table," he tweeted.

McConnell has sent mixed signals, and at one point supported allowing states to declare bankruptcy.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was initially cold to the idea of a phase-four package but acknowledged in early April that there would be a "next measure."

McConnell told The Associated Press on April 4 he would prioritize healthcare spending, particularly for finding treatment and vaccines. McConnell also said he'd shy away from passing anything unrelated to the emergency, saying that Democrats were pushing "unrelated pet priorities" in their urging for a phase four.

Another McConnell demand emerged during an appearance on Hugh Hewitt's radio show on April 22, when he said he would "certainly" be in favor of allowing states "to use the bankruptcy route."

States are not currently allowed to file for bankruptcy. As noted by David Frum in The Atlantic, American bankruptcy is "overseen in federal court, by a federal judge, according to federal law," an attractive prospect given that the federal judiciary has "shifted in conservative and Republican directions" during McConnell's tenure, Frum wrote. 

Governors from both parties disagreed with McConnell's bankruptcy suggestion, including New York's Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Maryland's Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. 

By April 29, McConnell spoke on a private call about a new must-have, according to The Wall Street Journal: a provision that would shield companies from liability over lawsuits related to the pandemic.

With Republican states leading the partial reopening of the economy, this potential provision would appear to be an admission that companies are endangering their employees by resuming normal business activity. 

On May 12, when Pelosi introduced the Democrats' proposal for phase four in the House, McConnell delivered a floor speech indicating it would not likely get passed in the Senate. He called it a "big laundry list of pet priorities" that represented an "extreme makeover of our country," Business Insider's Kimberly Leonard reported. 

Some congressional Democrats want additional relief for people most affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Some House Democrats have been advocating stimulus measures separate from a bigger phase four.

On April 14, a group led by Reps. Tim Ryan and Ro Khanna introduced legislation that would provide payments of $2,000 per month for at least six months to Americans 16 and older and making less than $130,000 per year.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal had previously laid out legislation that would have the government cover 100% of employees' wages and benefits up to $100,000 (a similar idea was proposed by Republican Sen. Josh Hawley). The Niskanen Center's Samuel Hammond noted in early May that the House phase four bill includes a payroll rebate that more closely resembles Hawley's proposal than Jayapal's.

Karen Bass, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said she hoped the phase-four stimulus package would address the racial disparity among coronavirus infections. A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 33% of the US' hospitalized COVID-19 patients are black, even though black people make up 18% of the overall US population.

Some congressional Republicans hope to help low-income families — and some are supporting McConnell's idea of a business liability waiver.

Congressional Republicans have warned Pelosi that the sweeping Heroes Act is "dead on arrival," CNN reported.

Republican lawmakers — including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy— have echoed McConnell's sentiments on not immediately passing another stimulus package. The Hill reported that Senate Republican Policy Committee Chairman Roy Blunt said he would wait until May before deciding what Congress needs to add in subsequent relief bills. 

But other Republicans have supported more relief to low-income families and rural families.

Some Republicans in both the House and Senate joined Democrats in advocating for measures to increase access to broadband internet for low-income families in the next stimulus package. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski told The Hill that she hoped the next stimulus package offered mental-health relief to struggling families. 

Sen. Mitt Romney, who pushed for immediate cash assistance in the phase-three stimulus, said he could see phase four targeting local businesses and laid-off workers. 

In late April, McConnell's regular interviewer, Hugh Hewitt, outlined a full wishlist for phase four in a Washington Post op-ed. It included longtime Republican goals like recapitalizing the "defense industrial base" and making sure that high-tech companies would be an "open book" to US intelligence regarding Chinese matters. Hewitt did say that states should get additional aid, with "strings" that "might reasonably be attached," such as "possible bankruptcy reorganization solutions for cities and counties."

By early May, The Washington Post reported, Sen. John Cornyn was working on a bill that would shield companies from liability over pandemic-related lawsuits.

Major banks predict at least another $1 trillion is coming — and the Federal Reserve agrees more might be necessary.

On April 22, Bank of America predicted in a research note that Congress will pass another large stimulus worth up to $1.5 trillion that extends on provisions in the "phase three" package and provides aid to state and local governments. Following the introduction of the $3 trillion House bill in early May, BofA said that was unlikely to pass as initially written, but that Congress will "more likely than not" pass additional aid before the end of the third quarter (ie, September).

And on May 13, Morgan Stanley said its "base case" expectation was that Congress would extend certain phase-three provisions to the tune of $700 billion to $1.1 trillion, potentially swelling up to $2.4 trillion. June was seen as the likeliest time for the bill to pass, the bank said, adding that it expected no further action before the election.

And Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell agreed in comments dated May 13, although he didn't mention a specific amount. "More fiscal help may be needed," he said, adding that it would be "worth it" if it helped prevent long-term economic damage. The current recession is "significantly worse" than any other since World War II, with a scope and speed that have no modern precedent.