Coronavirus, Cancellation of Attendance at Events, and Our Products (they're safe)

Dear Friends and Family,

We wanted to address what Doshi is doing with the Coronavirus. The too long, didn't read version is this: We are deeply troubled by the spread of the Coronavirus, we are cancelling attendance at events, and to our best knowledge, our goods are safe to purchase online as the vast majority of them were shipped several months before the virus started. Our newest items have spent over 60 days in isolation.  The predicted survival rate for this virus without a host is not more than 14 days.

First of all, we're saddened, troubled, pained and so much more with the spread of the Corona Virus. We are fearful for how widely and extensively the virus will progress and hope the government acts swiftly to provide tests and treatment.  We urge everyone around us to take precautions to minimize the spread and chance for exposure. We hope that all of you, our extended family, stay safe and healthy.  Nothing is more important. We wish anyone affected a speedy recovery.

Second, we are doing our part in cancelling our attendance at events through the end of this month and likely over the next few months. We are urging all of the organizers of Vegfests who have not already done so to postpone or cancel events. As part of the vegan community, we need to do our part to minimize the spread of the virus by social distancing until the country has a chance to find effective ways to combat the virus and halt its spread.  The cancelling of events is affecting out bottom line.  We will lose money on events and all that we've done to prepare for them - purchasing supplies: tents, tables,chairs, and shipping goods to the various locations where we attend events.  However it is imperative for us to act and do our part. We all need to do our part.

Lastly, we have had a few customers ask us about whether or not our products are safe.  The short tl;dr answer is yes.  Even the longest measures of how long the virus can stay alive when not in contact with a living carrier (human or animal) are between 9 and 14 days, and most other estimates are shorter.  As of this writing on March 11, 2020, all of our products are now over 60 days old and the vast majority of our goods are over four months old.  Further, all of our products are made in China, far from the epicenter of the virus' outbreak.  Please feel free to contact us with any concerns and please stay safe!

Warmly and In Health,

-Paras

P.S. Here is the official response from the CDC regarding the safety of products from China:

There is still a lot that is unknown about the newly emerged COVID-19 and how it spreads. Two other coronaviruses have emerged previously to cause severe illness in people (MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV). The virus that causes COVID-19 is more genetically related to SARS-CoV than MERS-CoV, but both are betacoronaviruses with their origins in bats. While we don’t know for sure that this virus will behave the same way as SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, we can use the information gained from both of these earlier coronaviruses to guide us. In general, because of poor survivability of these coronaviruses on surfaces, there is likely very low risk of spread from products or packaging that are shipped over a period of days or weeks at ambient temperatures. Coronaviruses are generally thought to be spread most often by respiratory droplets. Currently there is no evidence to support transmission of COVID-19 associated with imported goods and there have not been any cases of COVID-19 in the United States associated with imported goods. Information will be provided on the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) website as it becomes available.