By Noah Reem
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Maryland could lose up to 40,000 small businesses when the state is finally reopened for normal activities after the COVID-19 pandemic, State Comptroller Peter Franchot said Wednesday.
Franchot, Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford and State Treasurer Nancy Kopp met over livestream for a regular Department of Public Works meeting. Though they reported that Maryland has 28, 163 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, most of the focus was on the state of small businesses during the Stay-at-Home orders, curfew and other restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the deadly virus.
“We’re estimating there could be 40,000 small businesses that do not reemerge from this current pandemic,” Franchot said.
The comptroller said that he wrote a letter to the U.S. Small Business Administration urging officials to administer paycheck protection program funds in a way that would help small businesses and not multimillion dollar traded companies.
Franchot was referring to the federal loan program designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll. The SBA will forgive loans if all employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest or utilities.
Congress last month approved $349 billion for the program and mainly large businesses were the beneficiaries. For example, the $1.6 billion burger chain Shake Shack was given a $10 million loan and Ruth’s Chris Steak House received two loans for a total of $20 million. This month, Congress approved $310 billion for a second round of relief money for small businesses.
Franchot said that he has not heard back from the administration but urged Marylanders to support small businesses through the #keepthelightson campaign. The campaign was created to encourage Marylanders to support small businesses by ordering takeouts, using drive throughs, and purchasing other products from small businesses around the state.
Gov. Larry Hogan has outlined definite steps the state must take before reopening businesses, resuming certain services and allowing citizens to congregate outside their homes. Rutherford said that the state has increased the number of people being tested to gain a more accurate number of those infected and noted that there are currently 1,707 Marylanders hospitalized with the virus, as well as 1,338 fatalities.
“The compliance of our citizens has allowed us to not only limit the amount of the spread, but make sure that our hospitals and healthcare systems are not overwhelmed as we saw in Italy and New York City,” Rutherford said.
Franchot touched on the recent protests in Annapolis and urged people to continue taking precautions.
“I know there’s a lot of pressure to let the steam out and open up the golf courses, boating, restaurants and this and that,” Franchot said, “but this has to be done carefully otherwise we’re going to risk a second shutdown if we don’t get this right.”