BELLINGHAM, Wash. – A business advocacy group with Washington State ties says COVID-19 governance decisions are hurting small businesses.
Patrick O’ Connor is Washington State director for the National Federation of Independent Business.
He says the pause of the Governor’s Safe Start plan is placing additional burdens on small businesses after they have already made significant investment in personal protective equipment, sanitation and distancing measures, and worker training, telling KGMI “only to be told after they’ve made that additional investment ‘sorry, we’re going to put you on pause and we’ll get back to you and let you know if we decide whether you move forward to the next phase of reopening.'”
“So it’s getting more and more difficult,” he said, “for small businesses to hold on, pay their workers, when they don’t have dollars coming through the door.”
O’ Connor says the NFIB advocates a more local approach to loosening of restrictions in Washington, “the 80% of cases being found in about 6 or 7 counties are really hampering the vast majority of other counties across the state that ought to be able to move forward in a reasonable manner.”
NFIB surveyed 10,000 small businesses nationwide and the results showed so-called “main street” firms continuing to struggle throughout the pandemic.