It's too early to know the specific impact, but the President of the Junction City Area Chamber of Commerce, Mickey Fornaro-Dean noted conventional wisdom is that the COVID-19 pandemic defintely impacts businesses. "I think the biggest thing we can do at this point, and that we are doing as a Chamber, an EDC and a Military Affairs Commission is trying to be informative, look for all the information that we can possibly get to out to our members and our community so that they can stay informed, and just keep pushing that out as we get it."
Through the CARES act there are multiple loan options for businesses needing financial assistance. The Chamber has created a page where information is sent out to people. They are working to update that information on a daily basis.
Fornaro-Dean said they are also trying to distribute information from the Small Business Administration or from the Kansas Department of Commerce webinars or calls.
The Chamber office is closed to the public, but staff are working from home and are getting telephone calls and emails there.
Eventually COVID-19 will come to an end. Fornaro-Dean said this is hard. "This is something that none of use have ever been through before and I think the best thing that we can do is like we are right now staying informed and when we open back get up just get our feet on the ground." That can range from seeing members and talking to businesses to having small focus groups to develop ideas in the community to help it get back up and running. "I think you're going to see a lot of pent up which would be helpful." That could involve people getting out in public and participating in activities.