@Rob251 Hi Rob. I appreciate your concern about lost income. I do respectfully disagree with you on a number of points.
I do not think life in Seattle is going on as normal. I am unable to visit my mother in her rehab facility because they are not allowing visitors. This is the same protocol being used at other nursing homes. I just found out yesterday that I need to come up with a plan for 5 hours of online teaching to finish out the quarter at Seattle U since face-to-face classes have been canceled there and at UW and SPU.
Many small businesses are being severely impacted by a reduction in customers, not just Airbnb hosts. Yes, it is extremely unfortunate and the financial effects on the global economy--including many small businesses like ours- are terrible.
I had a guest in his 70's planning to arrive this week and his son who lives in Seattle told him not to come. Why expose himself to risk of mingling with international travelers in an airport and advice from Seattle and King County Public Health for people 60+ to stay home?
Finally, I did get an email message from Airbnb alerting me about their extenuating circumstances policy. Many organizations...not just Airbnb...are reacting quickly to keep people healthy by enacting work-from-home and travel restriction policies. These are not long-planned interventions that can be slowly "rolled out" to employees. They are reactions to a global health crisis. If the outbreak remains "small and confined" as you say in Seattle, it will be because of the drastic measures affecting thousands of people to try to contain this very, very contagious disease.