Downtown Chapel Hill and Carrboro, normally pleasant and bustling in the springtime, now seem eerily empty. Parking spots that were once impossible to get are now unoccupied, and paths of white lines stretch as far as the eye can see. Restaurants and businesses now have signs that read “Closed during quarantine” across their windows.
Whether you’re on Franklin Street, at the supermarket or just on your block, anywhere you go, you can find someone who has a story to tell about the coronavirus pandemic.
At the Carrboro Harris Teeter, customer service employee David Bucksot deals with the stress of being in a crowded environment for work, while also not having the financial flexibility to take time off if he gets sick.
“I cried almost every day of the first week of panic,” Bucksot said. “There was no time to wash our hands between customers, and I was both worried about getting sick and about possibly getting [the virus] and passing it to immunocompromised people.”
Many workers in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area are also high-school students trying to save for college, support themselves and their families or have some extra income. Employment can be vital to a student’s life and financial support.
Leyla Aydin, a Chapel Hill High School sophomore, had been working two jobs—bussing at Carrboro Restaurant Venable and assisting an elderly woman—before the crisis caused many employers to lay off workers.
“It was stressful, but I’ll admit I didn’t take the crisis entirely seriously at first, either. I thought, because I was younger and healthy, I wasn’t at risk,” Aydin said. “I still work for the elderly woman—despite that putting us both at risk—because a loss of income isn’t an option.”
When the coronavirus was declared a pandemic, concerns grew among workers about how they would continue to earn income. As of April 14, almost 600,000 North Carolinians had filed for unemployment since the pandemic began.
To calm the financial panic brought on by the coronavirus, Congress signed the CARES Act into effect on March 27, providing direct payments to families, unemployment insurance for those who lost their job because of the pandemic and delayed payroll taxes.
But it’s not just the workers who are in potential peril—it’s business owners as well. With a large-scale economic crash and quarantine, many are wondering what the future will hold.
Tyler Huntington, owner of Carrboro restaurant Tyler’s Restaurant & Taproom and the Carrboro Beverage Company, had to close both businesses—due to his own concerns about public safety and Governor Roy Cooper’s closure of restaurants and bars on March 17—leavings dozens of employees without jobs during quarantine.
“Many of the people who work at Tyler’s have worked with me for over a decade, and I care about them as close friends with families, bills and mortgages, so this decision was extremely difficult,” Huntington said. ”With the significant rise in cases reported this morning, I felt it was responsible of me to be part of the solution and close the store while looking into alternative avenues of selling.”
Huntington said the decision was not an easy one to make.
“I have always believed Carrboro Beverage Company and Tyler’s are there to support the community, so it was very difficult to not provide this service to our very loyal customers at this time.”
Several other Triangle businesses—including record stores—have had to shutter their retail spaces during the pandemic.
Small businesses will be able to apply for emergency loans to cover payroll and other costs starting April 3, according to Treasury Department guidance. The emergency loans, along with the Paycheck Protection Program that will allow businesses to continue paying their employees, are included in the $2.3 trillion lifeline package the CARES Act offers.
While the government is providing financial protection to workers and business owners, businesses still open to the public are taking measures to keep employees and consumers safe from the virus.
“Harris Teeter has put up small sneeze guards at all the registers, is attempting to clean more, is closing very early to provide more time for cleaning, has dedicated hours for seniors and has marked the lines to the register with six-feet-apart marks,” Bucksot said.
Buckshot also noted that the grocery store has made a number of changes in its fresh foods department.
“The salad bar and self-served baked goods have been closed, and free samples, as well as the complimentary cookies, have been removed. We’ve also stopped accepting returns–other than fresh food such as produce and meat–due to cleanliness concerns.”
Prior to shuttering his businesses, Huntington took similar steps to ensure safety for employees and customers.
“We implemented additional sanitizing procedures based on nationally recommended protocols, provided additional gloves for employees, secured additional alcohol based sanitizer and switched to single use utensils,” he said.
As business owners and workers in Chapel Hill—and across the country—take measures to ensure safety and flatten the curve, risking their own lives in the process, one can only hope for a swift economic recovery once the pandemic eases.
