By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
In just a few short days, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed life as we know it. The ways in which we have socialized, shopped, worked, and recreated in the past are on hold, at least for the near future.
"The local economy, in all sectors, is already feeling the effects of COVID-19; anything from local specialty printers, to restaurants, manufacturing supply chains, education entities, community events, fundraising events, to daycare providers, to the loss of appointments of our medical providers, to reduced staffing. Our businesses are experiencing unprecedented circumstances in an incredibly short period of time," Eric Brown, president and CEO of the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce, told Salina Post in an exclusive interview.
"These effects include lost of revenue, reduction in staffing, additional costs related to additional safety concerns, and in the most extreme cases, closing the business during the next 15 days based on a strict set of guidelines for Americans to follow to try to 'slow the spread' of the coronavirus including calling on people to sharply limit their normal behaviors when it comes to eating out, shopping, and socializing," he continued.
According to Brown, 89 percent of chamber membership is made up of local businesses, and how they will fare through the pandemic crisis is unknown at this point.
"This remains to be seen. We continue to be optimistic that the spread of the virus will subside by the guidelines implemented, but the reality is that if our community doesn’t purchase gift cards, food, goods, and services with our local businesses to help them through these next few weeks, then many will suffer setbacks," Brown said. "The full effect of COVID-19 remains to be fully realized, but your chamber is doing everything in its power to provide relevant and pertinent information to the business community."
To that end, the chamber announce Wednesday that it had launched a new website: Salina Strong. The idea behind the website is to keep chamber membership and the business community in general updated on such information as business resources, workforce information, restaurants and retail businesses offering deliver, take-out, and curbside options, health and safety updates, and remote working tools and options, Brown said.
"We hope that it can be used as a one-stop shop for information and assistance; we will continue to update the site," he explained.
"In addition, the chamber is reaching out legislators to discuss the effects COVID-19 is having on our community and encouraging them to find bipartisan solutions to assist the business community," Brown added.
Brown called upon the toughness of the community to persevere.
"In times like these, I believe that our state motto of 'Ad Astra per Aspera' truly embodies the spirit and resiliency of not only Kansas but Salinans as well," Brown said. "We can do the best we can to prepare without panicking, there will be an economic rebound, life will go back to the new normal, and hopefully, if we as a community have found creative solutions to support our local businesses then those businesses will be able to forge forward, providing jobs, taxes, and all of the other positive attributes that commerce provides to our local economy."
Brown said that while it is difficult to find a silver lining in our current situation, it "could be an opportunity for business to look at if this can reduce their cost of doing business in the future."
"Working remotely and doing more meeting via digital platforms may make individuals more comfortable. In addition, COVID-19 is creating such a disturbance that many may have the opportunity to redefine their business and ways they produce their lines of services or products," he said. "The last and perhaps most powerful opportunity is for the local business community to rally against the common enemy of COVID-19. There are several businesses offering discounts to patrons if they provide proof of shopping local over the next several weeks. Business to Business opportunities are always win-wins for the local community and may be more so now than ever."
Brown noted, however, that one of the biggest risks that businesses currently have is the liability of spreading the disease. He encouraged people to find creative ways to support local businesses while still following health guidelines.
"They can only control what happens inside their business and operations and if citizens aren’t practicing the health safety guidelines that have been outlined by numerous public and private health organizations, then people are putting not only each other at risk but the very businesses they rely on for their pay checks, food, entertainment, and all other creature comforts we’ve become accustomed to," Brown said.