Natural disaster plans could help businesses amidst COVID-19 damage

 Small and medium businesses have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving millions of Americans out of jobs, and researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) worked with NOAA's Climate Program Office to survey these businesses on the impacts. 

" In a new report of survey results, nearly a quarter of businesses felt natural disaster preparations helped them address COVID-19. Preparations, like telework readiness, that are applicable to different types of disruptions tended to be more useful than disaster-specific measures," NOAA reported in a press release. "The survey also identified areas of hardship for businesses, including a sense of uncertainty and a lack of guidance and resources."

To cope with restrictions, restaurants have been leaning on outdoor dining. 

“The survey results can help by drawing attention to how small- and medium-sized businesses are thriving or suffering and showing where natural-disaster planning and preparation helped,” Ariela Zycherman, NOAA social scientist with CPO’s Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) Program and co-author of the report, said in the press release. “The results will also help us identify places where there are needs and opportunities to build social and economic resilience to multiple types of disasters.”

Many small businesses have closed during the pandemic, especially those that rely on in-person business. 

“I do think there will be more of a focus on understanding if there are certain attributes of the business, whether it be employee size or ownership demographics, that can correlate loosely with the kinds of support they've received or the places they're asking for support,”Jennifer Helgeson, a NIST research economist and lead author of the report, said in the press release. “Is it more about friends and family or is it more about small-business loans? And how might this change if they experience a natural disaster during the pandemic?”