It's tough balancing "fair" in this case. Is it fair that my family in the northeast is without power while I read HN? Probably not. I would support changing as many deadlines as possible to be compassionate and to remove any incentive for them to focus on non-essential stuff like YC (similar to what you're saying).

Is it fair for the person in southern California to get an extra couple days to revise because others are going through a hardship? Probably not. I would want them held to the original standard (similar to what the grandparent is saying).

That's the tension I see with this decision. And how do we handle the special cases with teams that are split between coasts?

I don't think one rule will be completely fair, and I would ask pg to apply wisdom regardless if the official date changes. The date is just a date. It's better described as a spam filter than a deadline since YC accepts late applications anyway.