'It's White-Knuckle Time': Families Feeling Economic Impact Of Coronavirus
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - In the wake of the coronavirus scare, folks are hunkering down at home -- and that means tough times for restaurants like the Carlton, downtown.
"It's white-knuckle time," said Kevin Joyce from the Carlton. "There's no question about it.
Hockey games and concerts at nearby PPG Paints Arena have been canceled and many downtown workers are now working from home -- empty tables and empty barstools are a worry for bartender Megan Nemanic, who depends on steady customers and tips to make ends meet.
"My husband and I both do this for a living, so it's doubly frightening for us because that's our sole income and they're also slow where he works, so it's scary," she says.
Families are taking it on the chin. Now that schools across the state have been canceled, working parents need to find child care, and poor families who depend on school meals fear their kids will go hungry.
Nelene Harrow is a single mother of four.
"They won't be able to eat lunch, they won't be able to eat breakfast and whatever other snack that they provide at school," she says. "So this corona thing is really messed up to have our kids out of school."
If schools in Pennsylvania close due to #COVID19, meals can continue to be served ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/nZk69WGOgZ
— PA Department of Education (@PADeptofEd) March 12, 2020
The Pennsylvania Department of Education says meals can still be served, and encourages people to contact their local school.
President Trump has declared a national state of emergency, but still under negotiation between the administration and house democrats is a package to help families, which includes food assistance, enhanced unemployment benefits and paid sick leave to help workers will need if the health crisis drags on.
"A week or two might not be so bad, but if we're talking months, that's going to be a scary thing for a lot of people to pay their bills," says Nemanic.
Small business owners, also, are looking to D.C. for assistance in getting them over this hump -- and hoping that over the next few weeks, people will start coming back.
"You know, folks get tired of staying at home and hopefully they'll come back out," says Joyce.
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