LANSING, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – Many small businesses across the state may not survive the second wave of the COVID 19 outbreak.
That’s the sentiment of former Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley, the Portland Republican who has been the President of the Small Business Association of Michigan since he left office with Governor Rick Snyder nearly two years ago. Indoor dining, ice skating rinks and bowling alleys are among those being forced to close for three weeks, beginning today, and word that a popular family diner in the eastern suburbs of Grand Rapids was forced to close permanently yesterday because of the coronavirus health restrictions is a sign of the times, according to Calley.
“I’m afraid that the landscape of local, small businesses is going to change dramatically over this winter,” he said during a Wednesday appearance on Scott Watson’s “Hearing Voices” segment on “WHTC Morning News.” “That’s why I think it requires everybody’s immediate attention now that we have to support our small businesses, or else we might wake up next spring and find out that the whole economic landscape of our communities has changed.”
Calley is also expressing skepticism about the new state Health Department restrictions lasting just three weeks, telling Bridge Magazine yesterday, “We know it will take two to three weeks to slow acceleration (of the virus spread). Do we know for sure that is the goal, or should we just expect that it’s more like eight or 10 or 12 weeks?”
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