The property, owned by billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands, is keeping its doors open, hoping that its safety precautions — such as canceling meetings and shows and frequently wiping down slot machines — will keep employees and guests safe.

“Our team members are our most valuable asset and we have every intention of getting through this challenging situation together,” the company said in a statement. Management is still assessing the situation on a daily basis, and plans could change.

For now, the company’s position stands in stark contrast to that of President Donald Trump, a former casino owner himself whose political rise was supported by Adelson. On Monday, Trump called for Americans to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people. “We have an invisible enemy,” said the president, who was criticized by some for not recognizing the threat sooner. “This is a bad one.”

Adelson has been a close confidant of Trump and one of his biggest donors, making the apparent split more notable. In fact, the president was supposed to speak at this month’s Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas, held at Adelson’s Venetian. Trump canceled as the virus threat escalated, and the event was postponed.

The showdown over whether to close casinos comes at a time when the industry is pleading for relief from lawmakers.

“In a matter of days, the U.S. casino industry went from a growing, thriving segment of the U.S. economy to a near standstill,” American Gaming Association Chief Executive Officer Bill Miller said in a statement seeking stimulus funding. It followed airlines making their own push Monday for $58 billion in aid from Congress.

The casino industry, like so many, is wrestling with how best to survive the pandemic. Government officials in at least a half-dozen states, including New York, Massachusetts, Ohio and Illinois, have ordered casinos to close in hopes of preventing the spread of the virus.

In some cases, the states don’t have jurisdiction — and that’s brought its own issues. Tribal nations, which operate casinos across the country, can decide if they want to shutter their resorts.

In Florida, the Seminole Tribe is keeping its six casinos open in the state, including its most profitable property in Tampa, while taking precautions to keep patrons safe, casino spokesman Gary Bitner said.

The tribe, which owns the Hard Rock brand, will close all poker rooms by 7 p.m. Tuesday, limit the number of players at table games and turn off many of its slot machines to increase distance between players. In Tampa, for example, two machines in each row of three will be turned off, Bitner said.

In Louisiana, which ordered its 20 state-regulated casinos closed on Monday, Gaming Control Board Chairman Ronnie Jones wasn’t sure if its three tribal ones were closing or not. “They aren’t required to notify us,” he said. By late Monday, he’d heard two of the three were shutting down.

In Las Vegas, the biggest U.S. casino market, operators have been divided. On Sunday, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak ordered schools and state offices shut, but he stopped short of casinos, saying he would “strongly support” any operators that did close. MGM and Wynn went ahead and did just that.

Wynn Chief Executive Officer Matt Maddox told employees and guests he’s been consulting with an infectious disease specialist and following federal guidelines on crowds.

One issue: the threat of lawsuits. Carnival Corp. was sued last week for allowing passengers to sail in its ships during the crisis. Las Vegas employees and guests have already been diagnosed with the illness.

Some industry insiders also point to Macau, which took swift action, shutting down all public events in January, just before the big Chinese New Year, followed by a 15-day closure of the casinos in February. Business remains slow, with access limited. But the region, one of the top tourist destinations in the world, reported only 11 cases since the crisis began, with 10 having since been discharged by the local hospital, according to the government information bureau.

Other casino operators, such as Caesars Entertainment Corp., Boyd Gaming Corp. and Red Rock Resorts Inc., are staying open. Business-interruption insurance — which could be paid if a government orders a shutdown, but not if the company decides to close on its own — is one factor in the thinking.

Compounding the decision-making is the huge debt the casino industry carries, due in part to feverish dealmaking over the past few years. Caesars, for example, is being acquired by Eldorado Resorts in a transaction worth a combined $17.3 billion in cash, stock and debt when it was announced last June. Caesars and others have been drawing on their revolving credits lines, to save cash for the tough times ahead.

The Las Vegas-based operator of properties such as Caesars Palace and Planet Hollywood has canceled all live events through the end of March, closed its buffets and cut staff.

“We are taking these bold measures now and look forward to welcoming guests back to enjoy world-class entertainment experiences as soon as we are able,” Caesars said in a statement.

At Adelson’s Sands, customers still ate and gambled on Monday afternoon. Many other hotels and casinos in Las Vegas remained open, as does air travel to McCarran International Airport. A Sands employee cafeteria is being shuttered, to limit close contact, with workers being given other food options. Unlike other operators, though, Sands said: “The company is not considering layoffs or any changes to any of our existing health-care benefit plans.”

The industry has been especially hard hit by the sell-off on Wall Street. Shares of all casinos operators tumbled on Monday, with MGM down 34% and Caesars off by 28%.

But Adelson’s empire has fared a little better than most.

On Monday, Jefferies analyst David Katz upgraded Sands from a hold to a buy, citing its financial resources, flexibility and management stability. He called the stock “safe to play in traffic.”

In a letter to employees, Katherine Maher, chief executive of the Wikimedia Foundation, said: “We’re not declaring a holiday – if you are able to work more normal hours, the mission can use you. However, the world is unpredictable right now, and whether you need to care for loved ones, get groceries, or go to the doctor, your well-being is our priority. We are not tracking your time.”

Maher said the decision was made to give the foundation’s 400 employees and contractors a realistic sense of what’s expected. “We wanted to give them clear guardrails,” she said in an interview Monday evening.

When employers give generic instructions telling employees to juggle their increased workload however they can, she said, “it just creates an uncertainty and lack of clarity as [employees] try to read between the lines about what’s expected.” By creating a “ceiling” of hours, she hopes workers are able to shift to home responsibilities and think “the organization’s not going to judge me.”

Those want to keep working full-time may do so. “Many people use work as a way of channeling their stress with the world around us,” Maher wrote in her letter. “If that’s you, great!”

About two-thirds of the foundation’s workforce are software engineers and product developers — and 70 percent were already remote, with people in San Francisco, Washington, North Carolina and Minneapolis.

Maher said the site has seen an uptick in traffic. “We’ve seen a surge in interest in coronavirus,” she said. “What we’re expecting is we’ll focus our staff on shoring up the resiliency of the platform. Instead of rolling out a new update to iOS, we’re focused on presenting critical coronavirus information in the best way possible.”

People who work on the foundation’s partnerships or events teams will be redeployed to support the people who edit the site, or work on partnerships with public health entities.

How long the part-time offer will continue is unclear. Eighty percent of the nonprofit’s budget is funded by small dollar donations, Maher said, at an average of $15 to $16 from seven to eight million individuals each year.

“My feeling is what we’re really looking at now is the initial crest of impact; the economic impact is a longer curve,” she said.

Maher, who is based in San Francisco and has been working remotely since March 9, is still working full-time, though she did take a break for an hour or so Monday to make a run to the grocery store, she said.

She decided to post the letter online in hopes other employers might use similar tactics. “This is a force majeure,” she said. “Being honest with people is the only strategy that’s going to work.”

Warehouse workers in Spain and Italy have tested positive for the virus, while workers in New York and Chicago told The Washington Post that Amazon isn’t taking enough precautions as orders mount. Some said workers were sent home only after they had coughs, and signs were posted advising workers to wash their hands.

But in interviews, warehouse workers in the United States and Europe say they worry their workplaces are not safe enough and could contribute to the spread of the virus. More than 1,500 workers from around the world have signed a petition that calls on the company to take additional steps to ensure the safety in their workplace.

A worker at one of the facilities in Spain, where some colleagues have been quarantined with coronavirus-like symptoms and two others have tested positive for the coronavirus-causing disease covid-19, told The Post that he fears the warehouse may be a hot spot and wants it shut down.

“It’s an atmosphere of fear – huge fear right now,” said Luismi Ruiz, who has worked there since November 2012 and is a union representative. Amazon is spraying disinfectant throughout the warehouse and staggering employee breaks so fewer people congregate together, to try to reduce contagion.

“These measures are totally insufficient,” Ruiz added.

Amazon says it’s taking appropriate precautions to protect workers. The company says it’s following guidance from health officials regarding the operation of its facilities. And it provides workers time to use the restrooms to wash their hands.

“We are going to great lengths to keep the buildings extremely clean and help employees practice important precautions such as social distancing and other measures,” Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Cheeseman said. “Those who don’t want to come to work are welcome to use paid and unpaid time off options and we support them in doing so.”

(Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

Any disruption to Amazon’s ability to deliver goods could affect countless customers, who have turned to the company in recent days to bring canned food, cleaning supplies and more to their homes so they do not need to venture out to physical retailers and potentially spread the virus. Shoppers have turned to Amazon so frequently since the outbreak of the virus that the company has acknowledged that it’s out of stock of some household staples and that its deliveries are taking longer than usual.

It may not just be workers’ safety at stake. Research shows that the coronavirus can potentially remain viable – capable of infecting a person – for up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to three days on plastic and stainless steel, though it has primarily spread through direct person-to-person contact.

Amazon has long had a contentious relationship with some warehouse workers, who have helped fuel its rapid growth. For years, the company, which has nearly 800,000 employees worldwide, most of whom work in its warehouses, has been criticized for what some employees describe as poor working conditions, insufficient bathroom breaks and tough goals. They’ve also complained of the company’s efforts to quash unionization. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has denounced the company for paying subsistence wages to its warehouse staff.

Amid criticism, the company raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2018 and has implemented other changes to improve working conditions.

Now, workers are calling on the company to better protect them from a virus that’s raced through the country and led several major retailers, including Apple, Patagonia and Nike, to temporarily shut their physical stores to contain the coronavirus.

At a New York delivery center, Jonathan Bailey, a sorting associate, said pressure from Amazon to meet the rate at which it wants workers to fulfill orders could lead workers to ignore safe sanitary practices. If Bailey and his colleagues don’t “make rate,” managers can write that up, a blemish on their record that can make it difficult to advance at the company and can lead to firings, Bailey said.

Although Amazon is encouraging workers to wash their hands, it’s not giving them enough time to do so, Bailey said. The nearest bathroom is a two- to three-minute walk in each direction, reducing the amount of time he and his colleagues have to meet company shipping expectations, he said.

“If a worker is to cough or sneeze, there is no way for them to practice good sanitary habits” and run to a restroom to wash hands, said Bailey, who has worked for Amazon since last summer. “It’s going to affect your stow rate.”

That’s one reason the worker petition calls for eliminating rate-based write-ups. The petition also demands the company provide paid sick leave even if workers don’t have a covid-19 diagnosis because testing remains difficult to get. And it seeks to make sure warehouses are shut if a worker tests positive for covid-19 and not reopened until it’s been thoroughly cleaned.

To alleviate that strain, Amazon announced plans Monday to hire 100,000 new warehouse workers in the United States. And the company intends to raise pay by $2 an hour in the U.S., 2 pounds an hour in the UK, and about 2 euro an hour in parts of the European Union, a move it expects will cost $350 million.

Amazon made a specific pitch to workers who have been furloughed by current employers who have suspended operations.

“We want those people to know we welcome them on our teams until things return to normal and their past employer is able to bring them back,” Dave Clark, senior vice president of worldwide operations, wrote in a blog post.

The additional jobs come amid growing concern about low-wage workers not having job protections to stay at home or get health coverage if they come down with the disease.

The spread of the virus is particularly acute in Europe, as is the concern among Amazon warehouse workers there. The company has added workers in Italy recently to meet increased demand, according to Matteo Rossi, who works for Transnational Social Strike, which is trying to organize Amazon workers. He worries that could impede social distancing, a practice crucial to helping stop the spread of the disease.

“Amazon warehouses are more crowded than before,” Rossi said.

Amazon confirmed that three workers at warehouses outside Madrid and Barcelona tested positive for covid-19, according to a report from the Spanish news site La Información.

A worker at an Italian warehouse in Torrazza also tested positive for the disease, and workers there are concerned about returning to the facility, according a report from the Italian news site La Stampa. Workers declared a strike Monday at a warehouse in Piacenza over concerns about containing the spread of the virus, La Stampa reported.

Christian Kraehling worries about meetings at the start of every shift, where his colleagues at a warehouse in Bad Hersfeld, Germany, are reminded of safety precautions such as using handrails when going down stairs. Those meetings include scores of workers standing shoulder-to-shoulder.

“It’s a very bad situation with the coronavirus,” said Kraehling, who has worked for Amazon for 10 years.

Foreman dodged those levies when President Donald Trump announced a “phase one” agreement with Beijing. But Foreman stayed on guard, knowing that any rupture in the trade deal – or in the broader economy – could trigger a sudden blow.

Then came coronavirus. At first, Foreman worried about a supply chain backlog as Chinese factories ground to a halt. Then, once manufacturing started coming back online, the U.S. economy went into free fall, and Foreman isn’t sure whether his customers will keep their orders. A week and a half ago, he laid off 18 people.

Given the outbreak’s shock factor, inconsistent government response and economic calamity, Foreman summed up his situation bluntly: “This is like 9/11, Katrina and the financial crisis all condensed into one.”

In a matter of weeks, the pandemic has sent global markets into a nose dive, spurred hundreds of layoffs and sent the U.S. economy hurtling toward recession. From entire industries to small businesses, companies that planned to hire new employees this year or invest in updated equipment are backing off, holding onto hope that the economy will turn around once the outbreak is contained.

That may not come soon enough for businesses already hurting under Trump’s trade war, which spurred billions of dollars in tit-for-tat tariffs from the United States and China alike. In mid-January, Trump signed a partial deal that he claimed would reset an off-balance economic relationship.

But that agreement left a slew of unresolved trade issues still on the table. And many American companies saw their tariff burdens unchanged.

Even before coronavirus, experts were skeptical that both countries could follow through on their “phase one” commitments. Now with the world scrambling to counter a public health and economic nightmare, attention has shifted far away from “phase two,” experts say, leaving businesses in extended limbo.

“It’s really hard to see how they would have the bandwidth,” said economist Mary Lovely of Syracuse University and the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

On future talks with China, “ultimately the question is, does the president have the political incentive to push this before the election?” Lovely added. “And I think the answer to that is pretty clearly ‘no.'”

Multiple administration officials said this month that talks about a second China agreement have all but evaporated. Rhetoric about China from Trump and other White House officials has also hardened, complicating the prospects of a future agreement and eliciting a backlash from Beijing.

Initially, Trump lavished praise on China’s response to the outbreak. In early February, Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping’s response to the virus was “strong, sharp, and powerfully focused” and predicted it would lead to a “very successful” result.

But as it became clear over the following weeks that China failed to contain the spread, Trump and other officials started blaming the outbreak on failures of Chinese leadership, particularly that of China’s government to accurately report how many people were infected. That issue has also raised questions about the trustworthiness of China’s commitments under the “phase one” agreement.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative did not respond to requests for comment. The White House last week referred to Trump’s Oval Office address Wednesday night. During that speech, Trump announced sharp travel restrictions to the United States from Europe for 30 days, setting off massive confusion over whether the ban applied to trade and cargo.

“Because of the economic policies that we have put into place over the last three years, we have the greatest economy anywhere in the world, by far,” Trump said during his address.

That relief hasn’t reached Tiffany Zarfas Williams, owner of the Luggage Shop of Lubbock in Texas, who got no help from the trade deal. Williams said many luggage manufacturers are trying to source products out of Vietnam and India because of the trade war. But Williams worries that the quality of the products will slip. Raising prices to balance out the cost of the tariffs seems completely off the table now.

Sales at her shop are already down 50 percent compared to last year. Williams joked that if she sold cleaning products or hand sanitizer, she’d be turning away customers.

This time of year, shoppers would normally be packing bags for spring break. Williams wonders who will be buying luggage anytime soon.

Her company used to have five employees. One recently left, and Williams said she isn’t going to fill that empty slot. She was looking forward to replacing her shop’s computer system. Now that’s on hold.

“How can things change so quickly?” Williams said. “It definitely is a double whammy when you put this on top of the tariffs.”

Deena Ghazarian launched her small business as the trade war took hold. Ghazarian is the founder and CEO of Austere, a technology accessories company.

In the spring of 2019, as Austere was ramping up production and preparing for its first shipments, the company got slammed with tariffs on HDMI chords, surge protectors, fiber-optic cables and cleaning products for screens. Because Ghazarian had already promised retailers certain prices, Austere had to absorb the cost of the 25 percent levy.

Last fall, Ghazarian met with her Chinese manufacturers to figure out how to manage costs in the long term, and she planned for a more affordable arrangement that would kick in after Lunar New Year – right when coronavirus gripped China’s economy.

Even with the supply chain backlogs, Ghazarian thinks she has enough inventory to get through mid-May at the very latest. She’s hopeful people will keep buying cleaning and protection products, plus other accessories for working from home.

But beyond that, she’s terrified about making payroll for her 15 employees.

“I think we’ll be great for the first quarter,” Ghazarian said. “I am scared to death for the second quarter.”

Joe Shamie’s company, Delta Children, manufacturers baby and kids furniture. His products are still weighed down by a 25 percent levy, and he hasn’t been able to get the government to grant him exclusions.

Shamie said he’s been able to keep high levels of inventory, and many of his customers can still buy online if they don’t want to venture to a store. But developing new products, and making sure cribs and bassinets are safe, requires physically testing products and meeting with overseas manufacturers in person.

Shamie isn’t predicting any layoffs. But he is ramping up Delta Children’s software systems, laptops and IT department in case he has to send employees home.

“With coronavirus, that means even more that individuals that can’t afford [the tariffs] need relief,” Shamie said.

Alex Camara is also wondering how he could send his machinists and plant workers home. Camara is the chief executive of AudioControl, a Seattle-based company that makes audio tools for cars and homes. The company builds its products in the Pacific Northwest, but certain components come from China. Those goods are still pinned under a 30 percent tariff.

AudioControl has absorbed most of that cost, and Camara said he can’t raise prices and risk losing out to companies that manufacture abroad. Camara worries about supply chain delays that could last months.

The economic ripples from coronavirus morph every day. But the tariffs have persistently been his company’s largest burden, Camara said – and will be for the foreseeable future.

“I think people forget about it,” Camara said. “It feels, for some people, like yesterday’s news.”

The appointment must be approved by the Bank of Thailand and Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana.

Withai will replace Chatchai Payuhanaveechai, whose term will come to an end on June 14. Withai is currently secretary-general of the Government Pension Fund, the largest pension fund.

If Withai receives final approval, he will serve as GSB president for a four-year term.

The acquisition, made through wholly-owned B Grimm Power (Chon Buri) 2 Co, consolidated BGRIM’s outstanding portfolio to 3,019 MW and raising the total number of power plants in its network to 47.

CEO Preeyanart Soontornwata said the share purchase of ATP, which operates a 123-MW co-generation facility in Chaiyaphum sub-district, Chaiyo district of Ang Thong province, is in line with the company’s on-going business expansion both at home and abroad.

The ATP interest acquired by BGRIM was held by Redman Pacific Holding Pte Ltd which is not a connected juristic person of the company.

ATP has had an accord to sell 90 MW of its power production to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) for 25 years.

Preeyanart noted that there are also several projects under development and construction which will raise the company’s total installed generating capacity to at least 3,547 MW in the near future.

BGRIM targets to boost its combined generating capacity to 5,000 MW in 2022 as per the power sale commitment stipulated for the period.

Regarding impact from the global economic conditions and Covid-19 pandemic, she insisted that BGRIM’s income was only slightly affected, thanks to the “take-or-pay” nature of BGRIM’s power sales to Egat .

Furthermore, a part of its revenue comes from renewable energy power plants which are supported by the governments in countries which it operates.

She also pointed out that 25 per cent of its total revenue comes from electricity and steam sales to industrial customers whose energy demand has not shown any sign of sagging.

BGRIM’s power sales to industrial customers in the first two months of this year rose 0.8 per cent from the same period last year due to increased demand from packaging, air conditioning and other industrial segments.

BGRIM has a line-up of industrial clients with a total power purchase commitment of 31 MW with delivery to start in the second and third quarter of this year.

There is still a significant demand for reliable power supplies from BGRIM’s power plants situated near them.

These industries include data centres, petrochemical industries and the manufacturers of alternative energy equipment

There are more than 1,500 industrial operators in industrial estates, where BGRIM power projects are located, but only 130 of them are being served by BGRIM, underscoring the fact that they could become new clients of the company in the future, she concluded.