Small Business Owners Go into Survival Mode as Lawmakers Debate Economic Relief

The coronavirus pandemic is pummeling restaurants and bars, but many other small businesses, from landscaping services to beauty salons to day care centers, are now also seeing dramatic falls in traffic as people hunker down.
The threat of permanent closings and layoffs may have a lasting impact on local economies if these entities don’t survive.
For businesses like Jennifer McMahon’s medical weight loss center in Dallas, the drop in client traffic has been devastating. For nine years, McMahon has run Diet Solutions, a center that uses conventional and natural remedies to help adults with obesity lose weight. Over the last week, traffic has dropped by 75 percent. She has cash reserves to support her three centers for 14 weeks, but if business continues to lag, she will have to shut her doors.