"We need a plan" – Covid-19 and the impact on small businesses

For weeks the number of COVID-19 diagnoses and deaths has dominated America’s collective mindshare. How could it not, as the death toll in the U.S. has just surpassed 10,000.

But now the country is starting to see a new set of frightening numbers. In just two weeks, 10 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits as a result of the economic shutdown. And it will get much worse. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis estimates unemployment in the U.S. could reach a high of 50 million workers in the near future.

Managed improperly, the human toll from an economic disaster could end up exceeding the toll of the virus itself. That’s particularly true if the economy remains shuttered for an extended period of time.

Tony Duncan is just one of the millions of small business owners who will have to permanently shut his doors if the national shutdown continues much longer.

Duncan is the owner of Body Science, a fitness center in Kenilworth, Illinois. Just three months ago he invested his life savings and signed long-term leases to open his business. Today, he says “if this were to go on for another six weeks, we’d be destroyed, there’s just no getting out of that.”

Learn more – https://wirepoints.org/the-covid-19-crisis-its-time-to-move-past-the-public-health-vs-economy-argument-wirepoints/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow Wirepoints for more original research and commentary on Illinois

• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wirepoints
• Twitter – https://twitter.com/wirepoints
• Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wirepoints/
• LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wirepoints

Hit the SUBSCRIBE button just below the video