Survey indicates 45% of Phillips County businesses highly impacted by COVID-19

Phillips County’s long-term recovery team is striving to document the local economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Such data may be used to seek state and federal assistance for the county’s recovery.

As of April 27, a total of 42 businesses had responded to the online survey at https://bit.ly/PC_Business_Impact. The goal is to have a response from each and every business in Phillips County. While the long-term recovery team is far from having all the responses necessary, the 42 who have answered already offer some insight into how local business owners are faring.

Less than half of those who responded have remained open with normal business hours. About 33% closed temporarily, and 19% stayed open but with limited hours. None have reported having to close permanently.

For the purpose of the survey, those who are operating at one-fourth of normal business are considered to have had a high impact from COVID-19. Operating at half of normal business is medium impact, and three-fourths is low impact.

More than 45% reported COVID-19 has had a high impact on business. Medium impact was reported by 28.6%, and 11.9% reported low impact. Three businesses reported no impact, and another three said that COVID-19 has had a positive impact on business.

The full article is available in our e-Edition. Click here to subscribe.