Pa. small businesses scramble for assistance as shutdown order is questioned

State's small biz loan fund overwhelmed with applications

• Ed Mahon
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  Ed Mahon comes to Spotlight PA from PA Post, where he covered state politics and policy, produced radio stories that were broadcast on public media stations throughout the state and on NPR’s national newscasts, and co-wrote a weekday newsletter. Prior to joining PA Post, Ed worked for six years as an investigative and political reporter for the York Daily Record, part of the USA Today Network. His reporting on failures in Pennsylvania’s system for protecting domestic abuse victims was a finalist in the national 2018 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists in the local reporting category. He was also part of a team whose coverage of the criminal justice system, including the aggressive use of civil asset forfeiture by York County prosecutors, received the 2018 G. Richard Dew Award for Journalistic Service from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. Before joining the York Daily Record, Ed covered K-12 education at the Centre Daily Times in State College and worked as a stringer for suburban sections of The Philadelphia Inquirer. He grew up in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

 Tim Lambert / WITF

Gov. Tm Wolf on March 19, 2020, ordered gyms and many other businesses to close in Pennsylvania in response to the coronavirus outbreak. An empty parking lot in Hershey is seen on April 1, 2020.

Tim Lambert / WITF

Gov. Tm Wolf on March 19, 2020, ordered gyms and many other businesses to close in Pennsylvania in response to the coronavirus outbreak. An empty parking lot in Hershey is seen on April 1, 2020. (Tim Lambert/WITF)

Last week, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf rolled out a $60 million loan program to help businesses hurt by the coronavirus outbreak. The program offered small businesses with 100 or fewer full-time employees up to $100,000 in loans.

By 6 p.m. Tuesday, the state had received more than 900 applications that, if all were approved, would total more than $75 million in loans. Given the overwhelming demand, the state was forced to close the application process — one more sign of how businesses and workers are struggling across the state (For other signs, read PA Post reporter Emily Previti’s explanation of why there are so many unemployment claims in Pa., or Spotlight PA reporter Charlotte Keith’s story about an expected drop in state tax revenue.)

Meanwhile, Republican leaders in the General Assembly are urging the governor to allow more businesses to reopen their physical locations.

“We no longer can ignore the economic impact of this virus,”  the Senate Republican Caucus said in an April 1 letter to the governor. “We have stood with you to protect Pennsylvanians from COVID-19, and we ask that you stand with us to expedite opening as many businesses as possible at this time.”

In the letter, the Republican legislators say that a small business with two employees and a handful of customers is less of a public health risk than “big box stores with a hundred employees and numerous customers shopping for lawn furniture.”

They sent the letter the same day that Gov. Wolf expanded his stay-at-home order to all Pennsylvania counties.

The Wolf administration has already modified the list of businesses required to close and appears to make regular adjustments, such as loosening restrictions on some dental procedures.

But Wolf has also warned about the risks of ending mitigation efforts too soon, noting that the state has already recorded 74 deaths from COVID-19.

“If we don’t do everything in our power to stop the spread of this disease, we could easily have a death toll in the thousands,” he said during a Wednesday afternoon news conference.

With the debate ongoing, Stateline has this great look at how states are defining essential workers.

“At least three states — New York, Pennsylvania and Washington —  halted almost all construction,” writes Elaine S. Povich, noting that national building unions are pushing to allow construction to continue.

In Pennsylvania, the state guidelines limit most construction to emergency repairs and work on health care facilities. A spokesperson for the state Department of Community and Economic Development told me on Tuesday that residential construction projects that are “substantially complete” — ones where a final occupancy permit has been issued — can continue to completion. PennDOT recently announced it was restarting certain projects.

That debate over opening up more construction is one of many topics I’ll be keeping an eye on. Another compelling take on the shutdown order and businesses from PennLive’s John Baer: How Gov. Wolf’s business shutdown bit him where it hurts.

As for the status of applications to the state’s special COVID-19 business loan program, Department of Community and Economic Development spokesperson Rachel Wrigley said staff members with the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority are reviewing them. Wrigley said small businesses and eligible nonprofits are also encouraged to apply for low-interest loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). More information is available here. —Ed Mahon

Best of the rest

The rural Milton Area School District, serving students in Northumberland and Union counties, has been distributing technology to families that need it. Here, a district worker wearing a face mask greets a parent outside a school building. (Courtesy of Milton Area School District)

• For WHYY’s Keystone Crossroads, Avi Wolfman-Arent reports on the problems that many rural school districts face as they transition to remote learning.

• PennLive’s Charlie Thompson and Spotlight PA’s Angela Couloumbis have separate stories looking at the risk to children during the shutdown. Charlie spoke with childcare advocates who are concerned about kids falling off the grid. Angela’s story notes that calls to the state’s child-abuse hotline fell, and she explains why that is a bad thing.

• In a new poll of Pennsylvanians, 48 percent of respondents said they support a “Medicare for all” proposal. That’s from the annual Muhlenberg College Public Health Program Survey of Pennsylvanians. Pollsters also asked Pennsylvanians how concerned they were about the coronavirus, and those results were published in March.

• The Washington Post breaks down who won’t get one of the federal government’s $1,200 or $500 stimulus checks. Families won’t receive $500 for children older than 16. Most high school seniors and college students won’t receive any money.

• For The Inquirer, Gene Marks looks at the federal programs for small businesses. He writes: “[I]f you’re a small business, what should you be doing right now? Here’s what: Find an SBA member bank. Talk to a banker. Get the paperwork going. Get your ducks in order. You want to do everything you can to speed up the process. Do this quickly, because who knows how long that $377 billion fund will last.”

Coronavirus must-reads

• LNP: A rural Lancaster County township has best 2020 Census response rate in PA. No one knows why

• WJAC: Local viral video raises questions about testing those with mild Coronavirus-like symptoms

• WLVR: Lehigh Valley man who served in Army National Guard is first service member to die of coronavirus

• PublicSource: Should all Pennsylvanians start wearing face masks? Four local experts weigh in. The Morning Call also looks at the mask question.

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Landlords brace for late and missed rent payments due to massive job losses

• WHYY: Should we order in tonight? Questions about food safety in the time of coronavirus

• The Morning Call: Coronavirus in Pennsylvania warehouses: Lawmakers say companies that don’t keep workers safe should be embarrassed and fined 

• NPR: 5 Key Facts Not Explained In White House COVID-19 Projections

• Post-Gazette: To boost immunity, doctors recommend fruits, vegetables and no vitamin or mineral deficiencies

• Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri: Happy April Fools’ — not!

Not all at once, people

• Pennsylvanians can now place orders for liquor and wine via the finewineandgoodspirits.com online store. But the Post-Gazette noted one catch: “[I]f the site seems to be closed when you go there, that may be because access is being ‘randomized to avoid overwhelming the site with high traffic, prevent order abuse and prolong access throughout the day, so that order availability isn’t exhausted in seconds or minutes each day,’ the PLCB explained.”