Peak Design's Travel Tripods at the factory



Creators making everything from electronic devices to tarot cards are putting health and safety first as they update backers on how the outbreak is affecting their projects.



Kickstarter brings together creators and backers from all seven continents (yes, even Antarctica). So when there’s a global disruption on the scale of the coronavirus outbreak, we can see the ripple effects pretty quickly.

To better understand how this outbreak is affecting creators and their projects, we’ve been keeping an eye on project updates that mention the virus, and we’ve pulled together a few takeaways. This situation is evolving, and we’ll continue to update this post with any significant new information.

First, a bit of perspective from Peak Design, who wrote on February 13 that a travel and shipping ban in China was temporarily preventing around 900 of its Travel Tripods from reaching backers in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The company wrote:

“But what is far more important are the hundreds of millions of people affected by this crisis. Over a thousand people have died. Many more are suffering from illness. And many, many more continue to have their lives and livelihoods upended—by losing loved ones, being separated from their families, being unable to return home to their jobs, being unable to open their stores and factories for business, or simply from the dread and uncertainty brought forth by the outbreak of disease.”

Like our friends at Peak Design, our hearts go out to those in communities directly affected by the coronavirus. To creators in these areas, we understand that your safety and the safety of your families needs to be your priority right now.