By Robert McGarvey

Tens of millions now are mulling – maybe obsessing about – a simple question: Can we safely breathe the air on a plane?

According to a recent survey, 37% of us are worried about airplane air – and 65% of us are worried about sitting next to an infected person.

Understand: what airline we choose and how we decide to protect ourselves (and others) inflight matter. There are decisions that we can make that work. And others that don’t.

For instance: read a Travel Pulse story, where a University of Alabama professor of medicine and infectious diseases, Dr. Michael Saag, offered the explosive opinion that on some airlines – he singled out Delta with its CareStandard program – the air is in fact very clean.  Saag told Travel Pulse: “If passengers are spread apart and wearing masks, then it is very safe on an airplane.”

The Delta system filters cabin air every two to five minutes and removes 99.99 percent of particles.

One conclusion: whatever you do don’t fly American or United – both refuse to commit to blocking middle seats. Delta and Southwest both say they are.  Easy choice about which to fly. Physical distancing remains our single most effective way to stay healthy and I am not surrendering that safety to prop up a carrier’s profits.  Give me an empty middle seat or give me my money back!

The next big question is a non question because the answer is plain: To mask or not? Good news is that nowadays most carriers actually enforce a face mask policy.  Sure, there are troglodytes who insist they have a right to not wear a mask but that viewpoint is absolute nonsense.

Mask up to stay safe and keep those around you safer.

Which brings us to a question of the moment: are face shields better than masks?  Suddenly mask proponents are confronted with what might be the better option: a shield that usually is easy to wash, easier to breathe in, and for many just more pleasant.

Qatar is now requiring shields for economy passengers – no US carrier is. But, anecdotally, I hear more passengers on US carriers are wearing them. Should we join that club?

According to experts cited in a Washington Post story, shields may in fact offer more protection: “Face shields are a physical barrier that can provide travelers an extra layer of protection, according to Nahid Bhadelia, the medical director of the Special Pathogens Unit at the Boston University School of Medicine.

“‘I’m glad to see that a lot of airlines have mandated the use of masks, and the use of face shields is even better,’ Bhadelia said.”

Masks excel at protecting others from droplets you may expel – but shields do better at protecting you from the droplets others around you may expel.

Are face shields flat out better than masks? You will be hearing that question more – as more of us opt for the shields – and know that at least some experts agree the shields are better.

Amesh Adalja, M.D., a pandemic preparedness expert at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told AARP, ‘There’s a lot of at least biological possibility to suspect that [shields] are definitely better than homemade face masks, and maybe even better than other types of masks as well, because they not only prevent you from spreading it … [and] because it also covers your eyes, it provides more protection to the mucus membranes of your face where you might be getting infected.’”

A JAMA opinion piece, signed by multiple physicians, agreed about face shield benefits.  “They are comfortable to wear, protect the portals of viral entry, and reduce the potential for autoinoculation by preventing the wearer from touching their face.”

The JAMA piece went for home plate with this: “Most important, face shields appear to significantly reduce the amount of inhalation exposure to influenza virus, another droplet-spread respiratory virus. In a simulation study, face shields were shown to reduce immediate viral exposure by 96% when worn by a simulated health care worker within 18 inches of a cough.”

Amazon stocks a variety of shields.

Word of advice for flyers however: Don’t count on airline acceptance of shields in lieu of masks.  A particular crew may, another may think different and there are no national guidelines (yes, there should be but the absence is another story of presidential dereliction).  So even if you are a hardcore shield person…carry a face mask in a pocket. Just in case.

And know some scientists in fact highly recommend the dual tactic defense.  A mask protects others from you. A shield protects you from them.  

In a world where a deadly virus is rampaging, a dual protection just may sound mighty good.  

If you see me on a plane wearing both, I’ll forgive your giggles.

Just know I am probably safer than you.

Something is happening, something big, when it comes to the US and race relations and this is making itself felt in financial services.

That’s the strong opinion of Victor Miguel Corro, CEO of Coopera,  a consulting firm – started with support from the Iowa Credit Union League – that helps credit unions meet the needs of Hispanic consumers.

That market is huge.  In less than thirty years, one in three US consumers will be Hispanic, said Corro. Right now, Hispanics are about 15% of the US population.

But this conversation is about still more – the founding of the CU DEI Collective, by some 15 credit union related organizations, including CUNA, CUNA Mutual, Filene.  The organization explains its purpose: “The CU Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Collective is an expanding group being formed within the Credit Union Movement devoted to furthering DEI, a shared cooperative principle. We believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion is good business and is fundamental to a vibrant, relevant and growing Credit Union Movement.”

Corro was in on the founding.  Several additional podcasts with other credit union people are in the works and will post as we continue our coverage of what may be the other huge issue now confronting credit unions (Covid-19 of course is the other).

A credit union disconnect, said Corro, is despite the expanding multicultural character of US society, 90% of credit union board and c-suite positions are filled by non Hispanic whites.

But the credit union board, and its executive team, to succeed have to look more like the communities they serve, said Corro.

This is an expansive conversation.  The foundation is Corro’s belief that, for a credit union, a multicultural tilt is not simpy a good thing to do, it also is good business. It’s a way to stay relevant in a society that is changing its face.

Regular listeners will recall Corro from an early podcast, #17. Catch up with it here.

A related podcast is with Cathie Mahon, CEO of Inclusiv, the association of community development credit unions. Hear her here.

Hear the new Corro podcast here.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

by Robert McGarvey

I remember looking with horror as the first waves of coronavirus cases surfaced in Washington State, northern California, and downstate New York – and my horror was mixed with a superiority, the distinct perspective that, lucky me, I live in Phoenix, no longer in greater New York and, like Alfred E. Neuman, it was what me worry time.

To paraphrase the poet Bob Dylan, now I don’t talk so loud, now I don’t seem so proud.

My smugness collapsed in late March when I personally fell ill with Covid-19, a fact shown by a recent antibody test that indicated the 10 feverish days I stayed in bed were in fact due to the virus.  My illness is documented in a pair of blogs, Coronavirus and Me, The Sequel and Coronavirus and Me.

Being sick with coronavirus sucks and my advice is that if you don’t want to join me in that club, stay away from Arizona and if you are already here stay away from crowds, wear face masks, and practice thorough handwashing.  Do all that because, in Arizona now, the virus is a vigorous beast that essentially has risen from the dead.  On March 31, the government issued a stay at home order that shut bars, restaurants, gyms and more and many workplaces and retail also shuttered. The virus went into retreat.

No more.  In May most restrictions were lifted – and what was sure to follow has.

That’s because Arizona has joined a kind of club of infamy where – after state coronavirus restrictions were eased – cases skyrocketed.  It’s true in Florida, in Texas, and, definitely, Arizona, which have emerged as a laughingstock trio, a triumvirate of mismanagement.

Just that is the thing: New York did not mismanage coronavirus. Neither did Washington State. They did not have much of a clue what they were dealing with (and in New York’s case it even was dealing with a different, European strain).

In Arizona nothing is new, everything was predicted – and ignored by Governor Doug Ducey, a business executive turned politician who – plainly – is in way over his head when it comes to managing a public health crisis.

The numbers are his report card: Day after day, new records are set. Hospitals are stuffed with patients and now are permitted to ration care based in part about how likely a patient is to survive.  

The July 1 AZ Republic headline: “Arizona COVID-19 update: Nearly 4,900 new cases, 88 more deaths reported, shattering daily records.”

How did we get from having the virus cornered into our present predicament? This Arizona Republic headline tells the story: Over 4 months, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s actions to fight COVID-19 slowed as virus spread.  

A more accurate headline might have pointed to Ducey’s inactions because he has done more of that than taking actual actions. Perhaps Ducey Dozes, Covid Soars.

Case in point: as new cases started to spike in early June, first Ducey declined to issue a statewide face mask requirement and he also refused to give cities – such as Phoenix where the mayor had been begging to be allowed to require face masks – the right to issue requirements. Finally he caved and Phoenix, Tucson and other cities imposed face mask requirements. But how many got sick because of the delay? 

How many died?

Why the opposition to masks? Why Ducey’s opposition to doing much of anything to thwart Covid-19?

Masks are the local symbol.  The Guardian newspaper observed: “Masks have become a charged partisan issue in Arizona, one of the key swing states in the 2020 presidential election. As thousands of people watched Ducey’s press conference live on Facebook, many commenters demanded, ‘Make masks mandatory!’ but others pushed back: ‘Breathing is not aggression. Fear is not a virtue,’ one posted.”

Neighboring Scottsdale, by the way, claims a city councilman, Guy Phillips, who in a protest against face masks insisted, “I can’t breathe.”  

Many here share similar antediluvian views and, more often than not, those are the voices Ducey hears. 

Of course that crowd has a powerful leader.  Trump, the president who refuses to wear a mask, visited Arizona just 10 days ago and, nope, not many mask wearers in the sparse crowd.  And Ducey seems to believe that his only way forward is to curry Trump’s favor.

While ever growing numbers of Arizonans get sick, many die, and still the governor declines to reimpose smart and safe requirements for life in the Covid-19 era.

Oh, he did recently close bars, gyms, movie theaters and a few other kinds of places again – but so far gym operators are giving him the proverbial finger and staying open because, well, why pay him much mind?

As for me, I live with full knowledge that I am surrounded by a local epidemic that the federal and state governments are mismanaging.  I mainy stay indoors. I avoid crowds as best I can. I wear masks, certainly whenever indoors in a public space such as a grocer (count me a fan of the Whole Foods senior hour), and of course I wear Hawaiian shirts because it’s a hoot.

It’s what we can do, to stay personally healthy, to minimize disease spread, and thus to restart the inert economy.  I am doing my part. You?

by Robert McGarvey

Call it a sea change – a massive alteration of the US financial services landscape.  Everything seems different today and it is because of the pandemic.

What do you need to be thinking abut now to survive tomorrow?

An interview I did with Cornerstone consulting firm’s Brad Smith for a CUInsight article left me wanting more from Smith and here it is, a one-on-one podcast where we hear what smart credit unions are doing today.

Like what? Like recognizing that the mainstage role of the branch finally is over, probably forever. Smith is not saying he thinks branches are toast – he doesn’t – but he thinks their role is necessarily changing as many of us have gotten accustomed to not needing the branch and many of us also are simply fearful of places like branches.

Much financial services has shifted to digital and there it will stay.

“The challenge for credit unions now is learning to sell through the digital channel,” said Smith – and many institutions are playing catch up.  There’s no time to delay.

An unexpected problem, said Smith, is that the economy’s collapse has necessitated taking a new look at the FICO scores that used to enable confident and instant credit decisioning.  But that 800 score of May may be today’s 700 score and falling due to late pays, job loss, and worse.  

How can an institution provide the fast decisioning consumers now expect – but do it safely? Smith has thoughts.

Another big winner today: MRDC, said Smith. Even those who had scorned it are diving in.  

One more big winner: video chat.  We use it at work and we are now ready to use it in financial services. “Video conferencing will be another net winner,” said Smith.

An area where credit unions need to hop to it: credit card rewards programs need restructuring. The big players – Amex, Chase, Capital One – already are on the move.  Credit unions need to think fast and hard about this. But not many are, Smith admitted.

A last pandemic triggered push: a huge drive for cost savings and efficiencies. Many credit unions are looking to trim costs on commodity tech – think core systems – and redirect monies into strategic tech – such as true digital account opening.

Big changes are in motion.  Smith offers a road map in this podcast.  Take notes.

Hear the Smith podcast here.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

by Robert McGarvey for CU2.0

Everything is different today in financial services.

That means your credit union.

For the past decade, many credit union executives smiling agreed that they needed to make changes to keep pace with the mega banks—but times have been good and talk was cheap. Almost all clung to their traditional, branch-centric financial services practices.

The branch is king, long live the branch!

Except no more.

In many states, branches have been closed for months.

In just about all states, consumers are steering away from branches to better avoid the coronavirus.

You Can’t Go Back in Time

Enter Brad Smith, with Cornerstone Advisers, who thinks long and hard about what credit unions need to be doing to prosper in a post-pandemic world.

Continued at CU2.0

By Robert McGarvey

We aren’t flying and evidence mounts that many frequent flyers are unpersuaded that their health is a concern of the carriers. Screamed a Travel Weekly headline: “Many frequent flyers won’t be back for a while.” 

It elaborated that, according to research by consulting firm ICF, “Without a Covid-19 vaccine or widespread testing, 22% of frequent American travelers don’t expect to fly domestically until after summer 2021, according to an ICF survey.

“For international travel, that number jumps 41%.”

We have every reason to be skeptical – even fearful – of air travel, airports, and public transportation. This is all made scarily vivid in the “Safe Travel Barometer” compiled by consulting and analytics firm VIDEC.  What the company did was look at a range of metrics – are middle seats empty? Are face masks required? Are hand sanitizers available? Are there traveler temperature checks? Do passengers submit a health declaration form, etc?

US carriers are woeful underperformers. There are steps carriers can take to protect passengers and crew. But many US carriers just are not implementing them. 

You don’t want Covid-19 and I know that because I have had it.  It sucked. No, I wasn’t hospitalized. But I felt miserable for nine or ten days.

I did not get it on a trip.  But having had it, I am more cautious about getting in contact with people and places that may bring an encore. (And there is some evidence that antibody immunity, if there is any at all is fleeting.)

If there’s a powerful take-away from the Videc research, it’s fly international carriers to stay healthier.

Noted VIDEC: “only 31% of North American airlines introduced thermal scanning – among them American Airlines, Air Canada and Frontier Airlines. In contrast, 88% of Middle East airlines and 70% of Asia Pacific airlines have already enacted pre-boarding traveler temperature checks. Further, with the recent exception of Southwest Airlines, most of the commercial carriers in North America do not enforce travelers from declaring their recent health details, versus 33% of Asia Pacific airlines already doing so.”

What VIDEC has created is a table with carrier names on the left, and then checkpoints: Temperature checks, face masks, hand sanitizer, health declaration form, empty middle seat, etc.

Delta, for instance, whiffs on temperature checks and health declaration forms.  It succeeds with face masks and empty middle seats.

Is that good enough?

Singapore Air, by contract, requires temperature checks, face masks, and health declaration forms, and middle seats are empty.

My advice: check the VIDEC scorecard before booking a flight – and of course stay mindful that with many carriers the rules and requirements are in flux. At first, the main US carriers said they required face masks, for instance, but soon we realized the rules were not enforced. But now, apparently, on most US carriers face masks are in fact required.  

Can we not debate what is a good screening tactic for Covid-19 and what isn’t?  You bet, and in fact there are reasons to think temperature checks, while easy enough to do fast, are not reliable. Said WHO:  “Temperature screening alone, at exit or entry, is not an effective way to stop international spread, since infected individuals may be in incubation period, may not express apparent symptoms early on in the course of the disease, or may dissimulate fever through the use of antipyretics; in addition, such measures require substantial investments for what may bear little benefits.”

WHO offers its perspective on useful screens: “It is more effective to provide prevention recommendation messages to travellers and to collect health declarations at arrival, with travellers’ contact details, to allow for a proper risk assessment and a possible contact tracing of incoming travellers.”

Boil it down and in my view what I need, at a minimum, from a carrier is an enforced face mask requirement, an empty middle seat, and a health declaration form.  Hand sanitizer should be readily available too.

What all this is, though, is a changing puzzle. We are at around 500,000 deaths worldwide (about 25% in the US).  There is so much we still don’t know.  Safety practices need to stay flexible and adaptable.

The one undebatable reality: there need be better safety practices to get more of us back in the air and traipsing through airports.  Progress is getting made: the US carrier new insistence on face masks is a step. We just need more steps.

by Robert McGarvey

You want to read James Robert Lay’s Banking on Digital Growth.  It’s a book not about digital tools but rather about the transformation of community financial institutions, credit unions included, into organizations that can compete with and win against the mega banks.

Too small to do that? Nope, says Lay. That size can be a strength. It means a credit union can turn on a dime – if it chooses to.

It starts with recognizing that the traditional branch first marketing model is broken. Today’s consumer is digital first. And yet at most credit unions digital is simply a bolt on onto the old branch model.

Time for a refresh. Think digital first. Flip the business model and that’s the path to success.

Lay also believes that “Covid is a wake up call.” He is not trivializing the damage it is doing to the health of the nation, or the finances of many of us. What he is saying is that this is the time to look for new opportunities. Many credit unions will fail because of Covid. Many others will find new prosperity.

Why haven’t more credit unions seen the need for big changes? Precisely because they have had a good 12 year run since 2008. Why fix what ain’t broken?

But now breaks are showing.

Make the most of opportunities.

This podcast is about digital transformation but what you won’t hear is propellerhead talk. Lay is a marketer at heart and that’s what you will hear. And it’s what you need to embrace to get ahead in 2020, a year of immense challenges.

Hear the Lay podcast here.Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.comAnd like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Do you have 10 minutes?

That’s all it will take to listen to this CU2.0 Fast Take on PPP Loan Forgiveness, a topic that suddenly is bedeviling thousands of credit unions as they confront the reality of how time consuming it is to navigate the loan forgiveness process.

Make no mistake: you want to get that loan forgiven. Best guesses are that many of the loans that aren’t forgiven will in fact default.

You don’t want that on your books.

How long does the loan forgiveness process take a credit union that manually tackles even loan?  Figure 10 to 20 hours.

That cannot work on a $100,000 or $50,000 loan.

No way.

Enter Capiform, where CEO Sherif Hassan tells in this Fast Take how to get the credit union staff time down to a few minutes, maybe an hour, max, per loan forgiveness application.

The secret: Capiform screens that guide the borrower as he/she inputs the needed data.

Call it a Tom Sawyer moment of brilliance.

And Capiform gamifies the process so it almost becomes fun for the borrower.

10 minutes.  Spend them wisely. Listen up.

Hear the full length Capiform podcast here.

Want more info? Contact Capiform at its website.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

By Robert McGarvey

Did I infect anyone? How did I get it? Why did I survive?

And the true puzzler: Did I in fact have coronavirus at all?

Regular readers will remember my April column, Coronavirus and Me, in which I documented nine miserable March days spent in bed, with a high fever. I lost 10 pounds. Was very weak.  And then the fever broke and I was on the mend.  The column provides the vivid details.

Did I have it?

Last Friday I got an antibody test at a physician’s office and, bingo, I had it.  So the doc proclaimed.

Yes, I know the unreliability issues plaguing antibody tests.  But I take some perverse solace in a confirmation that I was right, I had the disease. Many of us apparently mistakenly believe they had it when probably they had the flu. Now I have the official word, I had it.

But once you are told you had had it, there are questions you need to ponder: did I make anyone else sick? How did I get it?  And the money question: why did I survive and over 100,000 have died?

Will I start traveling again? Not yet. There are still way too many questions about airports and airplanes and the lies we are told. Big corporations are hanging back from travel. Count me as following their lead, at least on this, for now.

Did I infect anyone? Not that I know.  As soon as I felt ill – an unusual event for me – I checked my symptoms against typical coronavirus symptoms and decided I probably had it. I live in an apartment tower where many of the residents are 60+ (higher risk) – it would have simply been very wrong to expose them to what I had. So I self-quarantined, for three weeks.  The first half was easy since I mainly was in bed and weakened.  And honestly it took another week after the fever broke before I regained my strength.

I did not much experience cabin fever.  What I was was very sick.

How my wife escaped the illness we don’t know. Maybe she had it and was asymptomatic (as many as 45% are believed to be).  The maddening thing about Covid-19 is that, six months into the pandemic, there is still much we don’t know. (Yes, she plans to get an antibody test soon.)

How did I get it? That is the single most common question I get and my answer disappoints: I don’t know.

I can tell you that in the run up I volunteered and helped feed hundreds of homeless in downtown Phoenix – but the homeless here so far have a negligible infection rate.

I took the lightrail a few times and public transit is a mode that is believed to spread the disease.  But I couldn’t prove it in my case.

And down the list.  I may have gotten it here or there. But I may not have.  

The devilish thing about Covid-19 is that it generally is an airborne transmission. Said the CDC: “The virus likely spreads primarily through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes, similar to how influenza and other respiratory infections spread. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.”

It can happen anywhere.  That’s reality (and it also is why masks now are mandatory for any right thinking people).

Why did I survive? Probably under 1% of cases result in mortality in the US.  Being male, 60+, and having underlying kidney, lung, heart or liver disease increases the odds of death. Obesity is another factor.

I am male and 60+ but have no uncontrolled health issues, my weight is in range, and I walk 5+ miles daily.

Routine lab work and a physical exam have found no Covid-19 lasting side-effects.

I count myself lucky.

Have I changed my routines since learning I have antibodies?  No, I am not planning any changes in my cautious behavior, especially not in Arizona, where I live amid spiking case numbers due to premature and politically motivated reopening and ending social distance guidelines. I have still worn face masks in public.  And my hair gets ever wilder.

You could say the odds are that I have some immunity and I would tell you the odds are heavily in my favor if I play Russian roulette with a six shooter – but the price of being wrong is too high.  Ditto for Covid-19. I do not want to go another bout with this demon disease and so I still maintain social distance in groups, I wear a mask (especially indoors in a group), and I avoid large gatherings, especially indoors.

For how long will I do it?  As long as it takes which, right now, looks to be another year or two, maybe as many as five.

I am in no rush.  I have been sick, it sucked.

Avoid it if you can – and good luck!

by Robert McGarvey

Steve Winninger is the man to talk with about credit union boards and governance.

A longtime credit union CEO – 20 years at Lake Trust – now a $1.6 billion institution based in Michigan – plus he also served as CEO at IBM Lexington and since retiring from Lake Trust he has put in stints as CEO at four credit unions (only one of which merged out of existence).

But Steve is a rare CEO.  He loves talking about the role of the board and – done right – a board should be crucial in a credit union’s prosperity.

But many CEOs grumble about board meddling. In other credit unions – mainly larger ones – it’s the board that grumbles that they are ignored.

Sigh.

Hear Winninger’s views on that dichotomy in this podcast.

In this podcast Winninger spells out the four steps a good board must take. Must. No exceptions.

We also talk about whether boards are ready and able to help in the immensely difficult decisions that loom as credit unions wrestle with the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In this podcast we talk about some writing I did on Partners Credit Union – click the link and read about it.  There’s a mention of Maine Harvest Credit Union, also the effort to form a student credit union at George Washington University.   Follow the links to hear the CU 2.0 Podcasts.

Listen to the Winninger podcast here.

Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com

Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto