Reeling from the impact of measures implemented to curb the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), members of the business community are calling on the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) to relax some measures to allow them to operate and maintain their operations.
Businesses have explained that prior to the partial national lockdown and curfew, they have been experiencing a decline in commercial activities, which resulted from the current post-elections crisis. Since the start of the month, only a few businesses in the city have been operating. Most of those businesses are not regarded as essential services and have been operating at reduced hours. However, on Friday, non-essential businesses were asked to close their operations by police following an order from the Ministry of Public Health.
Businessman Suresh Narine, who operates a wholesale beverage outlet along with a pharmacy on Robb Street, told Stabroek News that business for him has been impacted negatively due to the measures implemented.
Narine explained that while he supports the government measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, he believes they can relax some of them to allow businesses to operate. “I support the lockdown for the month and I complied but now we are hearing rumours that this lockdown might extend and we would like them to know that businesses and staff have been suffering because we are not able to operate as we would have liked,” Narine said.
He pointed out that if they are able to operate for a few hours per day, they will be able to generate revenue to keep staff paid and their businesses going.
“They can allow businesses to operate in a controlled manner. We are willing to operate for a few hours per day so that we can reach our customers’ needs and at the same time pay our staff and able to stay afloat,” he said.
Narine noted that an extended lockdown can have a detrimental impact on businesses as they will have to find finances to pay debts and also to make further investments.
“Before elections, business dropped by about 30%. After that we were hit with the coronavirus and business dropped by a further 50 to 60%. Our revenue stream is already low and so if we have an extension it will have a huge impact on the future of our business,” Narine explained before saying that some of his products have expiry dates.
Meanwhile, the owner of Colours Boutique Milton Branford related that he too supports the call for non-essential businesses to operate for several hours per day. According to Branford, he has given his staff the option to voluntarily stay at home and while they have used it, they have indicated their willingness to return to work because they are unable to earn.
“I have staff who are single parents and have commitments to reach. While I would have agreed to pay them for a period what happens after that time? If we close we get zero sales but if we open we have the option of earning at least a five percent that will assist to pay the staff,” he said.
The proprietor noted too that because of limited traffic in the city, they can adequately monitor the number of persons entering his two stores.
Another store operator, Fraser (only name given), of Fraser’s Battery Service on Robb Street, explained that he too is suffering from the effects of the measures in place and stated that he should be considered an essential service.
He made those remarks on the basis that many of his customers are large agencies that would need emergency replacement of batteries for their generators and vehicles.
“I had to rotate my staff and allowed them to take leave but I will not be able to sustain them after that period. If we are not having sales then we are not generating revenue to pay my staff. It is hard to tell staff you cannot keep them on any longer,” he explained.
On this note, the businessmen called on the NCTF to reconsider the measures imposed against non-essential businesses.
They recommended that if businesses are able to operate they should have strict social distancing and sanitizing guidelines in place for customers.
Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) President Nicholas Deygoo- Boyer yesterday told this newspaper that while he is not against the recommendation it should be done under strict measures for screening, social distancing and sanitization.
“I completely understand where these businessmen are coming from and how they are affected but going forward we will have to look at how we operate under this virus to sustain our businesses,” he said.
According to Deygoo-Boyer, while it is not a popular view for some non-essential businesses to reopen, they will still have to consider how they will operate and the measures they will put in place to encourage social distancing, the wearing of masks, and sanitisation facilities at businesses and possible temperature screening of customers and staff as well as implementing rapid testing.
He further pointed out that the country will be in a better position to address concerns of persons if there had been a government in place.
“Unfortunately, we are still dealing with an election crisis and [it is] being prolonged further. This is a manmade crisis which we can handle and resolve but the coronavirus is here with us until there is a vaccine of some sort,” he stated.
He said too that the country needs a phased plan to deal with the reopening of the country and had there been a government in place it would have been an easier task.
“We need to know to at what number we can go to reopening the country or what number we can say we have to go to full lockdown or what part we implement a curfew,” he said.
Further the GCCI president stated that they are likely to embark on a data collection project to gain an idea of how businesses are affected. This activity is likely to begin later this week. He stated that such data will allow effective planning to address the issues faced by businesses.
