Yep, the bloody media and their shitty reporting caused no end of confusion.
Piers Morgan actually got involved with our company. Sent out a tweet saying they weren't essential and should be closed. Because the 15 year old daughter of an employee tweeted him and told him so. Again saying 'essentials only.
The plan was to limit work where people were alone (in their own working area) but safe. Mainly outdoor work while we got H&S in place to safely do more work. We ended up furloughing 96% of staff, after that tweet. Took 3 weeks to get everything place and started coming back.
We are a sizable company, it cost the government alot of money in furlough payments. When we could have worked safely and furloughed 43%.
But the Owners decides it wasn't worth the backlash.
The remaining staff were SLT or working on nightingales. Part of our work is working for the NHS. Several hospital (not nightgale) building sites were on hold because they needed us on site, to progress, and we had to close. They are our priority sites now.
Not really sure how that helped anyone.