A survey of businesses taken by the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce this week regarding COVID-19 are coming up with results that shouldn’t be considered surprising.
These are some of the highlights:
- 85% of businesses that responded have felt a negative impact already, and 87% believe the challenges will continue for two months or longer.
- The greatest negative impacts include reduced revenues; impacts on staff either through layoffs, workers being off for health reasons due to isolation protocols or under-utilized labour while still at work; and the cancellation of important work-related travel events.
- 42% of respondents believe they will see as much as a 50% drop in revenue.
Businesses told us clearly that they are in a very, very troubled position with so many unknowns. The best analogy is that we have suffered an economic gash that needs immediate attention and will take time to heal,” said Chamber CEO Steve McLellan.
One of the big questions is no one knows when this situation will improve to the point that we can start resuming our lives as normal.
“No one knows for sure.” McLellan said. “Even health officials have differing time frames. Businesses haven’t been through this before so they are hoping it is just a month or two and that they can proceed as normal this summer, but there are no guarantees on that.”
Like many others, McLellan is saying we need patience on this and that Saskatchewan has shown its resilience before and will again as we fight through this together.
