Will County Gazette

State Rep. Margo McDermed (R-Mokena) dreams of the day she and her Republican colleagues can put their plan in action.

“In the caucus, we Republicans are trying to put together a package of actions we can take to the General Assembly to sort of jump-start our economy when the coast is clear from COVID-19,” McDermed told the Will County Gazette. “We’re talking to employers, small businesses and manufacturers to see what they think their members need to get back to full capacity when the time comes.”

With a new U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Metlife survey showing that over the next two weeks well over half of all small businesses across the country could be closed, McDermed knows there isn’t a minute to lose.

Currently 24% of all small businesses have already temporarily shuttered and another 40% indicate they could soon suffer a similar fate over the next 14 days.

Across the country, more than 10 million people have filed for unemployment benefits over the last two weeks and counting, with the overall unemployment numbers spiraling up to 4.4% from just 3.5% in February. Overall, more than 4 in 10 businesses think they have less than six months until a permanent shutdown is a reality for them, while 10% of owners said they have less than a month to survive.

“All of this is beyond scary if it really happens,” McDermed said. “A lot of families that depend on those businesses, especially here in Illinois, are going to have to find a way to somehow start over.”

Generally speaking, McDermed worries that rebounding from everything that’s happened may be harder than in most other places.

“We’re certainly behind given what our financial standing was even before any of this started,” she said.