by Juan Pablo Ocampo
Over 100,000 businesses have shut down permanently across the U.S. since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid-19 virus was characterized as a pandemic on March 11, 2020, by the World Health Organization. The pandemic has taken a harsh toll on human lives as well as global and local economies. Since the Covid-19 outbreak over 20 million Americans have contracted the coronavirus the Center for Disease Control estimates. On the week of March 30 as worldwide cases of Covid-19 reached 1 million, over 10 million Americans had filed for unemployment according to Think Global Health.
Many businesses saw hope in the re-opening of restaurants, gyms, and bars and the easing of restrictions by state governments. However, since the easing of restrictions a second wave of Covid-19 cases has spiked in the U.S. among states that reopened early. As states put restrictions back into place the future of many businesses seems uncertain.
“That is a devastating blow to some of these small businesses and if you were a small business that was just starting up or struggling, to begin with, the lack of paying clients can put you out of businesses,” said 2019 Marietta Business Association President Brent Rittersdorf.
Stimulus checks from the federal government and financial aid from restaurant relief funds, local governments, and business associations have bought time for local business but they are not enough to keep businesses afloat during a pandemic. Even the CARES act that provided $376 billion in relief for American workers and small businesses takes a considerable amount of time to reach the person in need.
“A lot of these businesses run paycheck to paycheck like most of us live paycheck to paycheck to pay our bills,” Rittersdorf said.
In a sense, most people are never three good months away from becoming millionaires, but most people are three bad months away from financial devastation.
“I applied for assistance, but it was late March by the time I had recovered. We received notice in late June that they were processing our request but needed more information. Most small businesses pay quarterly taxes which delayed our stimulus benefit. The government help was nonexistent, and in addition, is simply not set up to do this efficiently or correctly. Government assistance is a loan that requires a payback. To go into debt with a possible 18-month wait for a vaccine is a bad business decision. No profits, fewer students, and potential infection made the choice apparent, and heartbreaking” business owner Brian Hill said.
Confusion, unclear instructions, and the slow process of getting the financial aid processed and delivered left many businesses hanging and waiting for their help. Also, the insecurity of taking out a loan without knowing how the future will affect your business leaves many business owners cautious and wary of applying for loans.
Fusion Fitness & Mixed Martial Arts owned by Brian and Shelley Hill is one of these businesses that struggled to find a way to adapt to the limitations that Covid-19 put in place. Opened in 2002 and ultimately closed in 2020, Fusion MMA provided martial arts and self-defense classes as well as gear needed for training. As a personal training and mixed martial art instruction space, the business requires a lot of close face-to-face interaction between coaches and students.
Covid-19 has placed limitations on how businesses can operate creating dysfunction for many businesses. Businesses have adjusted business hours and the number of people who can be the store at one time all while enforcing the use of masks, social distancing, and constant sanitation. These limitations are important and help keep people safe, but some business models cannot adjust enough to make it safe for the public
“Social distancing and masks would not apply to training. Video classes did not work because you need a partner to train Mixed Martial Arts. Every class requires personal contact, therefore social distancing is not an option for us,” Hill said.
The risk of transmission was too high to risk and after being infected personally Hill saw the dangers of this reaching his clients and friends. Although quarantine ended and businesses were beginning to open up, the options for opening the gym were limited between testing “everyone daily or running a dirty gym only for those who have been previously infected and have immunity” Hill said.
Brian and Shelley Hill also own a personal protection business called “The Complete Combatant” which has become their main focus. Many businesses such as similar training gyms, as well as restaurants, and retail stores, have taken a financial hit.
“If you have a small business that was in good sustainable shape you needed a hand or a shot in the arm and that money helped you if you were in a situation where your business was struggling or just starting up the money was probably nowhere near enough to help,” Rittersdorf said.
As businesses focus on their future and adapting to the new environment that Covid-19 has put into place, many put their hopes in a vaccine to return everything to normal. However, vaccines take time to create and are still about 12-18 months away from being available. In the meantime, businesses are focusing on gaining traction again and attracting customers to the business.
“COVID was kind of like being a race-car going 200 miles an hour and hitting a wall immediately stopping and crashing and when a race-car gets back to speed it’s not 0 to 200 in an instant it’s a rolling start,” Rittersdorf said.
The KSU Beat 