Just a few more weeks until summer, I have been counting the days/weeks as the weather warms up and we have “real” beach days. I was away this past weekend so I missed the first “real” beach day of the season, although I prefer to walk the beach rather than sit and bake. I’m happy to share this morning’s sunrise, I wore long pants and a thick fleece … Post… Read more
Over the weekend, several countries reported their first cases of the new Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus. While little is known about the new variant, genetic sequencing indicates it has at least 30 mutations on the spike protein, which it uses to bind to human cells, so it could be even more easily spread than the Delta variant. In response to the uncertainty, Israel has banned all foreigners from entry, while… Read more
Even before the pandemic, some restaurant owners were challenging the model of paying servers only $2.13 an hour and depending on tips from customers to make them whole. Today, as restaurants and bars struggle to find enough workers to stay open, a few are making further changes to their business model. Some are raising wages and offering sign-on bonuses. Others are adding service charges to every bill, and others are simply… Read more
The recent announcement by the Biden administration of a plan that mandates COVID vaccinations or weekly testing has drawn both phrase and critizim from the business community. Some business leaders applaud the plan as a way to keep the surge in COVID cases from hurting the economy, although smaller employers may find the mandate difficult to enforce. Expanding testing may not be possible unless capacity is also significantly increased. Some business leaders… Read more
Keeping people safe in the pandemic requires a comprehensive approach, as explained by Aaron E. Carroll, a pediatrics professor at Indiana University. By taking the pandemic seriously, “far from posing a risk to its host city or town, a university could become—by supplementing behavioral measures such as masking and social distancing with widespread surveillance testing—a model for detecting and suppressing the virus.” By the time IU’s 87,000 students return to… Read more
Keeping people safe in the pandemic requires a comprehensive approach, as explained by Aaron E. Carroll, a pediatrics professor at Indiana University. By taking the pandemic seriously, “far from posing a risk to its host city or town, a university could become—by supplementing behavioral measures such as masking and social distancing with widespread surveillance testing—a model for detecting and suppressing the virus.” By the time IU’s 87,000 students return to… Read more
Happy New Year! Without computer, telecommunication, and cloud technologies, working from home during the pandemic would not have been possible. Looking back at 2020, Gene Marks a contributor at Forbes, put together a list of the 13 tech stories from 2020 that stand out for small business. For example, a Microsoft engineer who exploited a loophole to steal more than $10 million from the company’s online store underlines the need… Read more
Until scientists develop an effective and safe vaccine, and that vaccine is administered to millions of people, our best means of protection from COVID-19 is herd immunity. Recent models hint that the protective effects of a population that has already been infected by the COVID-19 virus may exist at much lower percentages than previously thought. Instead of requiring that 70 to 80 percent of a population be immune, that threshold… Read more
It’s no surprise to most Americans that the U.S. economy has suffered greatly from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. But what may surprise you is the extent of the decline: a record 32.9% contraction during the second quarter of 2020, the biggest drop since 1947. The virus is still spreading across much of the country, and for 19 straight weeks, more than 1 million people have submitted new claims… Read more
Perhaps the most challenging part of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic is that many infected people never show symptoms or have such mild symptoms it’s easy to chalk that out-of-sorts feeling to a poor night of sleeping. Some estimate that as many as 40% of those infected never exhibit symptoms, and these people could be shedding nearly as much contagious virus as those with full-blown symptoms. This high rate of… Read more
“I got an Offer for an SBA Loan Now What Should I Do?” A few weeks ago I clicked on the email from disastercustomerservice@sba.gov and was a bit surprised that they were inviting me to set up my portal so I could continue my SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan Application. I said to myself “I got an Offer for an SBA Loan Now What Should I Do?” Then I said… Read more
One of the baffling aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic is the fact that we don’t yet know precisely how deadly this virus is. Estimates of the fatality rate range from a low of 0.64%, estimated by analysis of data by Australian researchers, to a high of 16% in Belgium. Many infections are asymptomatic or mild, which means there may be 10 unrecorded cases for each documented infection. What we do… Read more
In the six months since the coronavirus began spreading around the world, doctors have learned many lessons. For example, placing patients on their stomachs seems to alleviate pressure on the lungs, and prevention is crucial. However, some unknowns remain, such as long-term effects of COVID-19 infections and how long it will take patients to recover. A big surprise to medical professionals was how widely asymptomatic carriers could spread the virus.… Read more
Resources to Help You Survive – and Thrive – During the COVID-19 Pandemic Now that some states are lifting lockdown restrictions, retailers whose offerings differ by the season are having an especially challenging time with reopening. Many were not able to fully restock their stores with spring items before they had to shut down, and have warehouses and stores full of items that no one wants now. Restaurants are also… Read more
At the onset of the debates and proposals for the stimulus packages, the C.A.R.E.S. Act, PPP & EIDL Loans one of my friends told me about the system some European countries use to support business in times of mandatory shutdowns. It sounded pretty straight forward and she said it accomplished what most economists were saying we needed; a way for employees and businesses to continue paying their bills during the… Read more
I spent my mother’s day morning with a friend on a plant buying expedition Mother’s Day Greenhouse Plants garbed in gloves hats, masks and glasses and as we practiced social distancing while meeting other gardening enthusiasts at the Brooklyn Terminal Market. I know others who hosted mother’s day dinners via video chat software or FaceTime. It was not quite “business as usual” but it was good to be out among… Read more
I am so glad to share this photo from another beautiful morning run on the beach today, I hope you are all doing something for YOU each day, it really does help. The reports are coming in about the stimulus checks. It seems that only those eligible individuals who had an over-payment direct deposited into their (current) bank account when they filed their 2018 or 2019 tax returns… Read more
You may have missed our announcement about our CARES Act Overview and Resource Center This post has many critical resources that are also in our resource center which I wanted to highlight, as well as updated information we have put together from all of our research. We believe that the “PPP loan to grant” program is worth reviewing. We have gotten word that our banking partners do not have complete… Read more