Kentucky businesses offer several keys to reopening economy after COVID-19 shutdowns
More than a quarter of the 443 businesses that responded to a new Kentucky Chamber of Commerce survey said that the economy should start reopening only when there is sufficient testing for COVID-19.
The chamber released Monday the results of the survey in which businesses revealed how they’ve been affected by COVID-19, and what they will need in order to reopen.
About 28 percent said businesses should start reopening after May 1, and 27 percent said sufficient testing would be crucial to that restart, according to the chamber. About 10 percent thought there should be a proven treatment for COVID-19 before the economy is reopened and 3 percent wanted a vaccine available before reopening.
The survey was open to businesses across the state for 10 days, between April 10 and 20, according to the Kentucky Chamber. Many of the responses were from small businesses with less than 50 employees.
About 19 percent of the respondents were in manufacturing and 18 percent of the responding businesses were professional services, according to the chamber. Businesses in retail, healthcare, hospitality and other industries also responded.
Of the businesses that responded, about 28 percent said they’ve had to suspend operations because of COVID-19 and 33 percent said they’ve had to layoff employees, according to the chamber. About 79 percent of the businesses said they’d lost revenue, and 55 percent reported that they were facing cash flow issues, according to the survey results.
About 67 percent of the businesses supported a “phased-in” approach to reopening the economy, according to the chamber. Some of the businesses expressed in the survey that adequate testing and availability of personal protective equipment would be vital to reopening, according to the chamber.
About 60 percent of the businesses said that clear communication of lifted restrictions from the government would be required for them to reopen, according to the chamber. Others, about 47 percent, said they would also need growth in customer base and traffic to the business.
“Some expressed concerns about enhanced unemployment insurance benefits totaling more than their salary because of additional money coming from the federal government as a deterrent for employees coming back to work,” the chamber wrote in a summary of the survey results.
The federal government provided an additional $600 per week in unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 outbreak. Kentucky was one of the states in which significant amounts of workers receive more money “than they would have typically earned in their jobs,” according to a New York Times analysis.
Access to money to pay employees, vendors and other expenses was an important requirement for 45 percent of the businesses and about 42 percent said they needed guidance on how to keep their workers and customers safe. About 35 percent of the businesses expressed a need for access to personal protective equipment for all of their employees, according to the chamber.
Only about 7 percent of the businesses reported that they expected no lingering impact after the economy reopens, and about 22 percent reported that they were concerned about employees and customers being confident enough to return to their businesses, according to the chamber. Those in that 22 percent also fear they won’t be able to get access to necessary personal protective equipment for employees.
If current COVID-19 closures were to be extended and last longer than expected, only 4 percent of the businesses surveyed thought they may have to close permanently, according to the chamber. However, 59 percent of the business thought that an extended closure would cause them to have to make “tough” financial decisions, including layoffs or salary changes.
About 48 percent of the businesses surveyed reported that they were not sure that federal assistance would be enough to help them, according to the chamber. Another 32 percent did not think it would be enough and about 20 percent reported that the federal assistance had been helpful.
Not many of the responding businesses had applied for economic disaster loans or other commercial loans, but about 25 percent had applied for Paycheck Protection Program relief. Another 15 percent had not applied for assistance.
Of the businesses that had applied for assistance, about 39 percent were still waiting for an answer when they took the survey, according to the chamber.
The survey was part of an initiative announced April 15 by the chamber called “Restart Kentucky: A Responsible Plan.”
This story was originally published April 27, 2020 at 1:04 PM.
