Beautiful morning to determine how to get your business back up and running. Regardless of when NC and Buncombe reopen, the doors will not be thrown open so it would be worthwhile to think about your business operations with reduced foot traffic or occupancy standards. Finally, the Senate allocated more money for PPP loans, so if you applied and did not receive a loan, call your banker today to figure out if there is anything you can do once they start processing the loans again.
PPP Update – The Senate passed a bill allocating more money for PPP loans as well as for Economic Injury Disaster Loans by the SBA. Now, on to the House which is to consider and vote on a bill tomorrow Thursday. THURSDAY . . . good thing there is no rush to help small businesses.
ReOpen NC – Gov. Cooper stated at a press conference yesterday that NC has not yet met the metrics required to rescind the lockdown. Wait, I thought the purpose was to flatten the curve which (at least in Buncombe) we have accomplished. Not certain when other “metrics” became the goal and what they are exactly. He also stated that he would announce a decision on opening schools later this week.
Stress – The closing of America (and the World) is clearly hurting people financially, but it also hurts people’s health and the solution is found in allowing people to return to their work and businesses.
ReOpen NC – This article states what I have been thinking: “This is not a trade-off between lives and the economy. It’s a trade-off between lives and lives. Lives lost to CoVid-19 and lives lost to deaths and despair through depression, overdoses and suicide. We need to move beyond the policies we had in place when a larger storm was forecast. The projections have changed and now the policies need to change to match the current risk.” In NC, as of April 21, 2020, there have been 6, 951 positive cases, 427 have been hospitalized and 213 have died. The State’s also had as many as 76,380 negative results from testing. There are approximately 10.5 million people residing in NC.
Rent Is Coming Due – WLOS has an article highlighting the difficulty of many small businesses to pay their rent, which is about to come due. As the article states, communication is key. If you have not already, get on the phone with your landlord and other creditors and communicate with them and try to work out a deal. Tell them what loans you have applied for and if you have received any. Explain your financial plan for the future and how they will get paid. If you do not have enough to pay everyone, try to spread the money (and the pain around). Also, try to spread the payments out for as long as possible since any reopening will not generate an immediate return to the profitability of the past. Regarding landlords, it would seem to me that there will not be much demand in the immediate future for commercial space and most landlords would be pleased to retain their existing tenant base.