Ryan Nicol
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is backing Wednesday’s move by Gov. Ron DeSantis to relax stay-at-home orders and allow a partial return to normalcy amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.
“Small business owners across the state will be very pleased with the announcement from the Governor that he is opening Florida for business on Monday, May 4,” said Bill Herrle, the NFIB’s executive director in Florida.
It’s no surprise the organization would back a move that would more easily allow those businesses to operate. But the Governor’s plan for phased reopening isn’t uniform across the state.
Restrictions will not be lifted in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, which have served as hotspots for the outbreak. Those counties have begun reopening some county and city amenities such as parks on their own, however.
Herrle said he’s spoke to hundreds of small business owners throughout the crisis who are looking forward to getting back in business.
Herrle relayed that the health of customers and employees is the top priority of those operators going forward. In addition, Herrle said small business owners will face two main operational concerns, even assuming the reopening is done safely.
“Number one, will the customers come back? And number two, will their employees come back?” Herrle asked.
“That’s a matter of public confidence.”
Herrle said the Governor’s push to boost public confidence is as important a piece of the reopening as the lifting of the stay-at-home order itself.
“It is really critical that we have a leader who is instilling confidence in the public right now,” Herrle argued.
“If his message is heard by Floridians, then the two biggest concerns of business owners — will the customers and will their employees return — will be answered positively.”
It’s also a matter of money, as Herrle echoed remarks from U.S. Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio that it may not make economic sense for out-of-work Floridians to return to their job.
“There are a lot of employees out there now who are drawing the $600 a week CARES Act support in addition to $275 a week in unemployment benefits,” Herrle explained.
“Now, that’s $875 a week. So right out of the gate, employers have to beat that to attract their workforce back.”
But the confidence concern comes down to one simple question: Do Floridians trust officials’ evaluations that it is safe to return to public spaces, even in a limited capacity?
Many individuals may be ready to go on day one. Essential businesses — such as grocery stores — have remained open and have seen consistent customer flow throughout the outbreak.
Still others may weigh against the risk of contracting the virus or potentially spreading it to a member of the vulnerable population.
“Despite the Governor’s orders, every Floridian is going to make a very personal decision,” Herrle said.
“That’s going to depend on the public confidence and the Governor is doing a good job of explaining the facts and helping Floridians overcome the fears.”
Those facts include Florida’s high hospital capacity and studies showing the death rate — while still higher than the flu — may not be as high as originally feared.
And Herrle did say Floridians should follow public health protocols going forward.
“There will be no ‘back to normal.’ We’re all going to observe public health protocols,” he said.
Those protocols still require people to maintain social distancing or wear masks when that distancing is not possible.
The Governor also announced restrictions on various businesses going forward. Restaurants and retail establishments must operate at 25% capacity. Several other businesses such as bars and gyms will remain closed entirely.
That’s one point where Herrle and the Governor disagree.
“Representing small business, we didn’t want any discrimination based on the size of the business or based on the industry, for that matter,” Herrle said, though he did agree with the geographic restrictions on South Florida.
As for what things look like for businesses going forward, Herrle says many leaders he’s spoken to are adapting in the event a second wave of the virus hits in the fall.
“We’ve never faced this before. Well now we have. And I think a lot of businesses are going to take lessons from it,” he explained.
“I think the smartest thing a business owner can do when they get back to work is take a hard look at their operations and say, ‘let’s take this time while we’re able to operate and make sure we’re in a better position to sustain our operations — remotely or with service innovations — should we face a second wave of this.”
Herrle said economic limits have been “devastating” to small businesses and that owners are “eager” to return to work.
“There may be a lot of businesses that fail through this. But I tell you, the very same people who lost those businesses will be back with something — maybe a different type of businesses, maybe a little bit different business model.”
