RICH PREPARE FOR NEW CORONAVIRUS DIFFERENTLY
Private planes, seclusion on board a yacht — anything to avoid the crowds.
The new coronavirus knows no national borders or social boundaries. That doesn’t mean that social boundaries don’t exist. “En route to Paris,” Gwyneth Paltrow wrote on Instagram last week, beneath a shot of herself on an airplane heading to Paris Fashion Week and wearing a black face mask. “I’ve already been in this movie,” she added, referring to her role in the 2011 disease thriller Contagion. “Stay safe.”
Paltrow did not pose with just any mask, unlike, say, Kate Hudson and Bella Hadid, who also recently posted selfies wearing cheaper, disposable masks. The Goop founder and influencer of influencers instead opted for a sleek “urban air mask” by a Swedish company, Airinum, which features five layers of filtration and an “ultrasmooth and skin-friendly finish”.
Never mind that the surgeon-general, Jerome Adams, begged people to refrain from indulging in mask mania on Twitter last weekend. Priced from $69 (2,100 baht) to $99, the Airinum mask, which has been popping up on Instagram stylistas, is sold out on its website until April.
At C O Bigelow Apothecaries, a venerable pharmacy in Greenwich Village, New York, N95 face masks that can filter for viruses have been sold out for weeks, said Justin O’Connor, who works in the store’s surgical department. There is a waiting list of 300 people.
“A lot of big names come into C O Bigelow; they’re usually pretty humble,” Mr O’Connor said. Now some people are trying to name-drop their way into snagging masks.
Cambridge Mask Co, a British company that uses what it calls “particulate filtering layers and military-grade carbon,” has seen demand for its $30 masks spike 20 to 30 times normal levels, said Christopher Dobbing, its founder.
The rich are sparing no expense when it comes to minimising their experience with the coronavirus.
Business executives are ditching first-class for private planes. Jet-setters are redirecting their travel plans to more insular destinations. And wealthy clients are consulting with concierge doctors and other VIP health care services.
Why spend $3.79 on a bottle of hand sanitiser from Target when Byredo, a European luxury brand, makes what it calls a “rinse-free hand wash” with floral notes of pear and bergamot for $35?
You may have more luck with Olika, a company that makes a hand sanitiser shaped like a modernist baby chick and costs $14.62 for a three-pack. Alastair Dorward, the chief executive of Olika, said that the company is getting multiple orders per minute, adding, “It’s not clear how many more days the rest of our product will be in stock.”
At a time when every stray cough from three rows back sounds like a ghostly greeting from Typhoid Mary, those who can afford it are paying extra to sidestep crowded security lines and jampacked planes and flying private — which might be an attractive option for those who wish to flee the teeming cities for, say, a safe house in Telluride, Colorado.
Some wealthy people have told Bloomberg News that they have been staying in their Hamptons homes and are prepared to jet off to cabins in Idaho if things get worse. And The Guardian reported that executives have chartered jets for “evacuation flights” out of China and other affected areas.
For some private jet companies, fear equals opportunity. Southern Jet, a charter jet company in Boca Raton, Florida, recently sent out a limited test marketing email with the tagline: “Avoid coronavirus by flying private … Request a quote today!”
Other well-heeled travellers who were planning vacations in affected countries, like Italy, are instead opting for the seaborne isolation of yachts, to lounge in the Mediterranean sunshine far from the infected shores.
But where to go? The social calendars of the well-to-do have been thrown into disarray, as art festivals, luxury fairs and invitation-only retreats are postponed or cancelled.
Another thing people try to avoid, even in the best of times? Emergency rooms. The wellheeled who wish for round-the-clock access to doctors, expedited appointments with specialists and members-only hospital amenities are turning to concierge medical services.