COVID-19 Issues For Ellis County Businesses
As we work together as a community to slow the spread of the Coronavirus, I wanted to touch briefly on a couple of issues that local business owners really need to be thinking about right now.
In response to COVID-19, Ellis County announced a “stay home, stay safe” order which in many ways is just another name for a “shelter in place” order. As we work together as a community to slow the spread of the Coronavirus, I wanted to touch briefly on a couple of issues that local business owners really need to be thinking about right now.
The first of those issues is insurance coverage. Many businesses carry some variety of insurance coverage, which may include business interruption insurance, crisis-management coverage, or trade credit insurance. If your business has those types of insurance policies in place, you should be looking at your policies to see what might be covered.
Perhaps more importantly, if you have any of those types of insurance, as a business owner you are going to want to be looking at what kind of notice you are required to provide under those policies, and what the timeline is for providing that notice. For instance, do you have to provide notice through certified mail if you use an online portal? Do you have to provide notice as soon as you experience the first loss, or after you believe that the loss is abated?
Another issue that business owners are experiencing is determining how they will continue to operate and pay for current expenditures necessary in order to function. That issue concerns the use of the Small Business Administration loans that are being opened up as a result of recent legislation. There is a considerable amount of money available to help small businesses not only make it through this tough time, but also to help businesses adjust and adapt to offer additional services or additional products that may be more relevant to what is needed at this time.
That being said, there are a whole host of other issues that are inherent in our current situation with the advent of these “shelter in place” orders. There are compliance issues, employment law issues, insurance and opportunities from the Small Business Administration that business owners ought to be thinking about as we’re dealing with this crisis related to COVID-19. I really want to encourage business owners to reach out to us at (972) 878-9105 to discuss those issues.
