Coronavirus Pennsylvania: 'Really No End In Sight' For Small Businesses As Stay-At-Home Orders Extended
MEDIA, Pa. (CBS) -- With stay-at-home orders in place for another month, businesses and workers are facing more hardship. Eyewitness News spoke to leaders in Delaware County about how some small businesses are dealing with continued losses.
Small business loans and federal assistance are expected to help hold over Main Street. The big word there is "expected."
With the exception of life-essential businesses, all the stores along State Street in Media remain closed.
Can they all survive another four weeks? We're already two weeks in as we hunker down and stay home to flatten the COVID-19 curve.
But with utilities, rent, employee pay, and health care costs, the spreadsheet on a mom-and-pop business begins to look bleak with the amount of time they've been asked by the governor to remain closed.
Eyewitness News spoke with leadership from the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce and the Wayne Business Association about how businesses make a run at survival.
"There's really no end in sight. At first, you think two weeks manageable, you can get through it, but now it's like, all right, what's next?" said Trish McFarland, with the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce. "Small businesses are seeing that business is slower, their doors are closed, staff is working remotely. Just an unsettled feeling of how long is this gonna last and how long are the financial ramifications gonna last from this, as well."
"I don't want to use the word panic, I don't think it's there yet, but I would say unnerving and unprecedented," said Deanne Doane, with the Wayne Business Association. "I would say in a community that is supported nearly wholly by locally-owned businesses, this is so unprecedented to have this effect literally every type of business."
The fear of the unknown has left many businesses in a crunch.