Small business sector in grim battle to survive

"WHEN?" and "how bad?" seem to be two common questions being asked by both local and international health professionals with respect to covid19's widely anticipated second and third waves, among the world's worst hit countries, as well as TT, which has not changed its profile over several weeks.

The answer to these vague questions would help professionals, who interact closely with their clients, better prepare for what's to come.

"I'm thinking about selling my business," says Jeanine Lee Kim, a therapist and owner of a spa named Strawberry Laser Lipo TT, located in Couva, which specialises in liposuction.

"But even then, who do I sell it to?"

She envisions a grim future as business came to an abrupt halt two months ago due to the government-imposed restrictions on non-essential businesses.

Like many small business owners, Lee Kim cannot pay employees who aren't working and paying rent is practically impossible. She and countless other professionals are at the mercy, not only of the restrictions, but of their landlords, as well.

She took three years to turn a proper profit.

"It was now starting to really take off," Lee Kim said, when the pandemic reared its ugly head. She said it only took about two months to cripple her investments.

Some of her clients, she said, have begged for her to reopen somehow. "But I'm not about to put [the employees] and clients in harm's way by opening," she said. "We aren't considered essential."But we are not resuming services until the lockdown has been lifted. We do value the health and safety of our people, clients and staff.

Granted restrictions are lifted for non-essential businesses in the stipulated time, Lee Kim says she is hoping to continue where she left off.

If and when she does resume, the manner in which her business operates, will change dramatically.

"We're obviously as precautious as possible," Lee Kim said.

"All linens changed and washed in hot water after each use. Door knobs to be sterilised after each client with 90 per cent alcohol."

"Tools," she said, "are to be sterilised with Barbicide," – a popular hospital-grade brand of solution, which is mostly used in salons and barbershops.

She said the globally accepted precautions set out by the World Health Organization apply to her business.

"Masks and the washing of hands for 20 seconds are mandatory. We're asking that clients who have experienced flu-line symptoms within the past 30 days to reschedule."

Lee Kim said the business will make every attempt to be as prompt in its service as possible because she is also asking that client be on time.

Lee Kim will accept clients from 65 years onward when the "dust settles."

She intends to protect the company from liability, too, however. The business will implement a waiver, which essentially states the company cannot be held liable if the customer contracts the virus, and the establishment is believed to be the source.

While some of her services are arguable essential, doctors, dentists and other health-related services, have never stopped working since the pandemic began, regardless if they were on the frontline.

But the manner in which they do their jobs have already changed drastically. Physicians, for example, have increasingly serviced their clients remotely, whenever possible, utilising online video messaging platforms like Zoom and Skype.

The Centres for Disease Control, which governs US health policy, and the World Health Organization (WHO) – the international agency guiding health policy practically everywhere else – have agreed that these waves are impending and have policies to prepare for them.

On a governmental level, many overwhelmed countries, like Germany and the US, have also declared that a simultaneous rolling back of lockdown measures is also necessary for the survival of their respective economies, and by extension, the people themselves.

The key, German chancellor Angela Merkel said earlier this week, is that German states engage roll-back cautiously. "[The] first phase is over...we still have a long fight ahead of us," she told the country earlier this week.

Last week, the London Times reported that German states were "racing to reopen restaurants, beer gardens, hotels and nurseries as the cautious national compromise brokered by Merkel unravelled this week."

"Days after the chancellor rebuked some regions for easing their restrictions 'too briskly', half of Germany’s 16 states have taken matters into their own hands with customised plans for a swift return to business."

The article added that the German state of Saxony-Anhalt had relaxed its rules on public gatherings to allow meetings of a maximum five people from different households.

"Others [states] will permit castles, massage parlours, folk festivals, nail bars and cafés to reopen. Another state, Saxony, has given its blessing to open-air demonstrations with up to 50 participants."

The country's premiere football league, the Bundesliga, became the first among Europe's major football leagues to restart matches, doing so in empty stadiums on Saturday, in relief to the football-starved country, and the rest of the world.

At the time of writing there were just around 175,000 cases of the virus in Germany and about 7,500 deaths attributed to it. The US continues to tip the scale as it has in recent weeks, and is currently battling about a million cases, accounting for nearly half of the world's approximately 2.3 million active cases.

The Financial Times, however, reported on Friday that the daily death toll in the US "epicentre," New York, was at its lowest since the outbreak began.

In TT, as of Saturday there were eight local deaths – a figure which has not changed since April 6. Of the 116 total positive tests, 107 people have been discharged.

The government announced on May 3 that the lockdown restrictions imposed on businesses, schools and other facilities, and the closure of borders were to be extended to May 15, depending the advice of medical experts.

Across the globe, states with far larger economies have enlisted measures, which they say must be adopted to cautiously roll-back lockdown restrictions, including ramping-up of testing capacities and enforcing physical distancing policies.

The latter, as it pertains to therapists, doctors, dentists and related, will undoubtedly face a revolution when it comes to interaction with clients.