These Madison County business owners are ready, but worried, about reopening from coronavirus
Nancy Schneider, who runs Chef’s Shoppe in Edwardsville with her husband, says it’s difficult to see the parking lots of large stores like Target full while her business struggles through the COVID-19 crisis.
“It sucks,” she said of the state laws restricting nonessential businesses from being fully opened. “I don’t think just because we’re small we should have to shut down our business.”
At Chef’s Shoppe, Schneider said while business is down, loyal customers and curbside pickup are keeping at least some income coming in. But that won’t sustain her business in the long term, she said.
“We’re all anxious to open again,” she said. “If you’re a small business owner you know your whole livelihood is sinking around you, curbside alone can’t pay the bills.”
Schneider was one of the community business leaders who spoke at the first meeting of a committee in Madison County aimed at creating a plan to reopen and reboot the county’s economy when COVID-19 restrictions ease in Illinois.
The meeting was held via teleconference and streamed on Twitch, a streaming platform used mainly for watching people play video games. Twitch is now commonly used by Madison County for meetings because of social distancing requirements.
The Open Up Madison County Again committees’ first meeting included leaders from several Madison County industries, including retail, food and entertainment, religion, transportation and construction, among others.
‘These are not normal times’
County Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler said the committee offers struggling enterprises like Chef’s Shoppe to be heard as government leaders prepare to open Madison County for business.
“We’re here to look ahead because we have to have hope for the future,” he said. “Many people dream to open up a small business but nine out of 10 businesses fail in their first year in normal times. These are not normal times.”
Prenzler stressed that the committee will follow state and local health officials’ guidance while formulating their plans. The committee won’t act as “medical professionals,” he said.
“I want to be clear that these guidelines will be 100% consistent with the public health mission of our county health department,” Prenzler said before the meeting.
On Saturday, Prenzler sent a letter to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and asked him “to allow Madison County to proceed, as a county, to re-open businesses in a safe, phased way.”
Prenzler noted that along with small businesses, larger ones also face difficulties. He said U.S. Steel Corp.’s plant in Granite City has filed a notice with the county that up to 737 employees could be laid off in 60 days. The county does not yet know how many layoffs could occur at the plant but the company is required to give the government 60-days notice before mass layoffs can be implemented.
Prenzler said last week the committee will operate in line with President Donald Trump’s Opening up America Again and state guidelines.
On its website, the White House proposes states or regions begin to open up if they’ve had a downward trajectory of coronavirus-like or influenza-like illnesses reported within a 14-day period, a reduction of cases or positive tests, hospitals can treat patients without crisis care, and if “robust” testing programs are in place for at-risk healthcare workers.
As of Wednesday, 330 people had tested positive for coronavirus in Madison County and 19 people had died from the virus, while 96 people had recovered from the virus.
Erika Harriss of Glen Carbon, a business owner and county board member, said she had spent the past week talking with many small retail business owners about their plans for reopening.
“They are worried about the continued fallout,” she said. “Our small businesses are working with pretty small profit margins, and they’ve lost their income so they are seeing a lot of fallout from this already.”
She added, though, that businesses want to reopen “the right way.”
“Everyone I’ve talked to said we do need to do this right,” Harriss said. “There definitely is a feeling that when we do this our customers feel safe and comfortable to come in.”
How to handle the ‘fear factor’
Matt McSparin, who owns and operates Edison’s Entertainment Complex in Edwardsville, said one worry he’s heard from other business owners is that furloughed or laid off employees may not return when restrictions start to loosen up due to the current extra unemployment pay some are receiving through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
“Even if they have tried to put their workforce back on payroll, there’s been push back because people are making more from unemployment than from working,” he said. “ Restaurant owners are going to face layers of problems beyond operating a clean and healthy restaurant.”
Rev. Danny Holliday, pastor of Victory Baptist Church in Alton, represented the faith community. He said one of his main worries is the “fear factor” that he said will be present even when the risk of getting the virus is reduced. He said that could lead to economic issues possibly worse than the virus itself.
“Some large and small businesses will not be able to reopen,” he said. “If too many businesses shut down we’re going to have an economic problem that is worse, if not just as bad, as this virus we’re dealing with.”
As the meeting wrapped up, Edwardsville family health doctor, Loren Hughes, a member of the committee tasked with answering questions and concerns from a medical standpoint, said the plans and stories he heard from the committee were what he expected and a “good start.”
He said focusing on using personal protection equipment and social distancing when businesses can eventually open up will be a priority.
Hughes added that he expects as testing becomes more available that the country and state will be on a more “rapid” path to opening.
“We’re trending to that point where everyone is going to start relaxing the rules,” Hughes said.
This story was originally published April 30, 2020 at 2:05 PM.