Fact-Checked Source:
Tom Huddleston Jr., "How Small Business Owners are Coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic" 

Looking Deeper: 5 Facts Checked

To better understand the claims made in this article, I've include my own perspective alongside with researches from other sources to verify the facts this article makes about the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I never could have imagined being closed for days and days,” says Barb Skupien”. “Now, it feels like it’s going to be weeks, and I guess it could be months.” 

I want to look into this claim because I wanted to see whether all business owners are experiencing the same impact and struggles. This quote came from a jewelry boutique owner on her perspective of the crisis. She explains the hardships she is facing due to her business being temporarily shut down. Due to the sudden cut in income, Skupien is struggling to pay her storefront’s rent, which is $3,800 per month (Huddleston, 2020). An article published by CNN tells a similar story of Alex Dabagh, a small business owner in Manhattan. As a result of the forced closure of his business, Alex Dabagh stated, "my small business is losing $20,000 each day" (Dabagh, 2020). 

"The disease outbreak could potentially wipe out three million jobs from the U.S. economy before this summer."

This fact matters because the wipeout of jobs will have a huge impact on our economy. The article, "The Effects of COVID-19 on the US Economy" makes the same argument. Chris Miller, a Director of the Foreign Policy Research Institutes claims that, "unemployment is shooting up far faster than it did during the 2008 recession, a sign the economy is headed toward recession" (Miller, 2020). Business owners are easily impacted by recessions especially in the small business community. 

"Small businesses across America are already feeling the financial crunch from coronavirus restrictions that have millions of people taking refuge from the virus outbreak by staying at home and avoiding unnecessary shopping trips."

This fact is important because many small business owners are facing a massive crisis as they are uncertain as to when they are able to return back to normal. This claim was made by an article from CNBC. Holly Wade, the director of research and policy analysis for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) makes the same argument. Wade stated, "Cash flow, even in a good economy is often a struggle for small businesses ... But, now it has turned into one of the most, if not the most, important obstacle that they face" (Wade, 2020). 

"Restaurants, in particular, have faced a massive disruption to their income streams and business models. "

This quote was interesting to me because I help my parents run a restaurant. Due to the pandemic, our restaurant had to temporarily shut down. I was planning on working there this summer, but as the condition lies I don't think our restaurant will be able to reopen. I am concerned about the impact the virus has on our restaurant and all restaurant owners in the countries in the next couple of months. 

"Several U.S. states have already begun mandating that non-essential businesses — basically anything beyond supermarkets and pharmacies — close their doors to customers."

We might not expect this to be true because it's hard to imagine businesses shutting down as we are so used to having them. However, several states have already mandated for non-essential businesses to close. In addition, an article from ABC news confirms this. The article stated, "At least 46 states and Washington, D.C., have enacted policies to close nonessential businesses in an effort to slow the spread of novel coronavirus in the United States" (Schumaker, 2020). 

Analysis Essay

In the COVID-19 Business: Small Business Owner Perspectives on COVID-19 

The spread of the novel coronavirus has been rapidly spreading within the last couple weeks, putting the entire world into a state of emergency. Due to my parents being business owners, I was most interested in exploring how the virus affects small businesses. As a result of COVID-19, many small businesses were forced to shut down temporarily. The shutdown makes it hard for small business owners as they rely on the business to keep employees on the payroll, paying rent, utilities, etc. Amongst many that are impacted by COVID-19, the virus has severely impacted small business owners both emotionally and financially. I am interested in exploring their perspective on how this impacts their life and how they are coping.

Many sources are circulating around the internet on how business owners are being impacted by the pandemic. The source I utilized from CNBC, which provides interviews of local business owners and statistics on loss in revenues, closings, and unemployment rates small businesses are experiencing. The “facts” that matter in this source are the direct quotes from the interviews. These interviews are a great way to look into the point of view of various business owners as they have first-hand experience. The intended audience for this source is the general public; the goal is to educate the general public on the impact COVID-19 has on small business owners. It also aims to let all small business owners know they are not going through this alone. This source was disseminated through the CNBC website. 

The CNBC source claims that "small businesses across America are already feeling the financial crunch from coronavirus restrictions that have millions of people taking refuge from the virus outbreak by staying at home and avoiding unnecessary shopping trips." (Huddleston, 2020). Holly Wade, the director of research and policy analysis for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), makes the same argument. Wade argues that: "Cash flow, even in a good economy, is often a struggle for small businesses...but, now it has turned into one of the most, if not the most, important obstacle that they face” (Wade, 2020). From my parents being business owners, I can really relate to the fear and anxiety they are feeling as we are unsure when we will be able to return back to normal. I planned on working at my parents’ restaurant this summer but as the condition lies, there might not be a place I can work.  

Many business owners have insisted that they are already feeling the financial pressure from the State mandating non-essential businesses to close temporarily (Huddleston, 2020). A jewelry boutique owner from North Carolina stated, "I could never have imagined being closed for days and days... now, it feels like it's going to be weeks, and I guess it could be months"(Huddleston, 2020). With the business's revenue put on pause, Skupien is struggling with paying her storefront's rent, which is $3800 per month (Huddleston, 2020). Due to the mandate of closing their doors to customers, many business owners are profitless, making it hard for them to keep their employees on the payroll and pay for other necessities.

Despite the challenges, small business owners need to acknowledge that they are not alone, and there are many resources out there to help them. The Small Business Administration (SBA) provides loan assistance to help them in this time of crisis (Stangler, 2020). Many business owners are collaborating with the SBA to keep their business afloat (Huddleston, 2020). They trust that the association will help them by providing them with grants and loans. Moreover, there are many online sources such as articles and journals writing about the resources available for small business owners to assist them in coping with the sudden loss of income. The “facts” that really matter to them are whether those resources are legitimate. They are more likely to trust resources provided by government websites as opposed to random sources on the internet. In the Vox article, “The 7 biggest problems facing science, according to 270 scientists,” the sixth biggest problem was that science was poorly communicated to the public (Belluz, 2016). In class, we learned that facts can sometimes get miscommunicated from the scientific community to the public due to the facts being exaggerated by the media. Therefore we should be skeptical of facts on social media and make sure we fact check it before fully trusting the information. 

Our website needs to include the perspective of small business owners because the impact COVID-19 has on them is also affecting our economy. According to the Foreign Policy Research Institute, small businesses such as arts, entertainment, recreation, and restaurants constitute 4.2% of GDP (Miller, 2020). With these businesses being close, this figure will now be zero (Miller, 2020). As a result of the business closure, Foreign Policy Research Institute claimed that 3.28 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits, the highest number ever recorded (Miller, 2020). I believe it is essential to include the perspective of small business owners because small businesses are the backbone to our society. Without them, our society would not be able to properly function. Including this perspective also helps us understand how it is impacting our economy as a whole.

References

Belluz, J., Plumer, B., & Resnick, B. (2016, September 7). The 7 biggest problems facing science, according to 270 scientists. Vox. Retrieved April 22, 2020, from https://www.vox.com/2016/7/14/12016710/science-challeges-research-funding-peer-review-process 

Dabagh , A. (2020, April 2). Small business owner: I'm losing $20,000 a day. Here's how the government can help me. CNN. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/02/perspectives/small-biz-coronavirus/index.html 

This is a journalistic secondary source from CNN Business Perspectives. The source is written from the perspective of Alex Dabagh, the owner of Pietro Handbags in New York City. I can tell that the perspective it shows because it is written by a business owner. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own; it highlights Dabagh perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic. The main purpose of this source was to explain the financial crisis his business and his 40 employees are currently facing. I think this source provides good evidence of my perspective of interest because it is directly written by a small business owner. 

Jr., T. H. (2020, March 23). How small business owners are coping with COVID-19 pandemic: 'It was my civic duty to be a part of the solution'. CNBC. Retrieved March 30, 2020, from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/23/how-small-businesses-across-us-are-coping-with-covid-19-pandemic.html 

This is my primary source; the author is from Consumers News and Business Channel (CNBC). I could tell what perspective this article conveys because of the title "How small business owners are coping with COVID-19 pandemic: 'It was my civic duty to be a part of the solution.' This source provides evidence such as interviews of local business owners, statistics, and experts' opinions on how small business owners are being impacted by the pandemic. The main argument of this source is to highlight the fact that many are struggling both emotionally and financially due to the sudden cut in their income stream. I think this source provides good evidence for my perspective because it contains direct quotes from local business owners on their perspective of the crisis. 

Miller, C. (2020, March 30). The Effect of COVID-19 on the U.S. Economy. Foreign Policy Research Institute. Retrieved March 30, 2020, from https://www.fpri.org/article/2020/03/the-effect-of-covid-19-on-the-u-s-economy/ 

This is my scholarly secondary source. The author is Chris Miller, a Director in the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Eurasia Program. He is also an Assistant Professor of International History at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. I can tell the perspective this source shows because of the title, "The Effect of COVID-19 on the US Economy." The main goal of the source is to educate the public on how the impact of COVID-19 on small businesses is affecting the U.S. economy as a whole. The author utilizes philosophical analysis and current statistics, such as the GDP to outline the pandemics effect on the economy. Although this source doesn't directly show my perspective of interest, however, it does show the impact the stakeholder has on the large economy as a whole. I think this source provides good evidence because the information came from someone who is very knowledgeable and has expertise in the field of economics. 

Stangler, D. (2020, March 17). How Do We Help Small Businesses During the COVID-19 Crisis? Forbes. Retrieved from how-do-we-help-small-business-during-covid-19-crisis  

This is a journalistic secondary source. The author of this source is an entrepreneur from Forbes. I can tell that this source conveys the perspective of small business owners because it describes the hardships small business owners are facing. The main purpose of this source is to provide ways to help small businesses during the COVID-19 crisis. It provides many suggestions on resources small business owners can utilize to assist them during this pandemic. I think this source provides good evidence because it is written by an entrepreneur, who is very knowledgeable about the challenges small business owners are facing. 

Schumaker , E. (2020, April 3). Here Are the States That Have Shut Down Nonessential Businesses. ABC News. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://abcnews.go.com/Health/states-shut-essential-businesses-map/story?id=69770806 

This was a journalistic secondary source written by a journalist from CNBC news. The main purpose of this source was to show all states that have mandated nonessential businesses to shut down. This source also aims to explain how our lives have changed since coronavirus struck. I think this source provides good evidence because it shows a map of all the states in the America that has mandated the shutdown of non-essential businesses. I can tell the perspective this source shows because shutting down all non-essential businesses means that mostly all small businesses will be impacted. 

Warren, K. (2020, March 20). Between 5 and 7 million US restaurant workers could lose their jobs in the next 3 months because of the coronavirus pandemic. Business Insider. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://www.businessinsider.com/restaurant-worker-layoffs-us-coronavirus-2020-3 

This is a journalistic secondary source, which was written by a senior reporter from Business Insider. I can tell that the perspective the source shows because of the picture provided in the article. The pictures show two employees standing in an empty dining hall room of a Sacramento, California restaurant. This source highlights the fact that restaurants owner were ordered to close their dine-in service and switch over to take-out only. With only the takeout service available, business was so slow which forced many restaurants to close. The main purpose of the source is to talk about the struggles restaurant owners are facing and that restaurant employees are facing unemployments. I think this source provides good evidence because it provides direct quotes from local restaurant owners.