When Gov. John Bel Edwards implemented a stay-at-home order and closed all nonessential businesses in mid-March, the state’s economy effectively shut down overnight.
Restarting it, as we are beginning to realize, won’t be so quick or easy.
There’s no way to flip a switch and get the engines roaring again when the entire system has been short-circuited by a pandemic. As business and political leaders begin to reopen various sectors of the economy, there are more questions than answers.
What kinds of procedures and protocols need to be put into place? Is there enough testing capacity to enable workplaces to safely reopen? Is there enough PPE to protect employees and, if so, how does an employer get enough of it to go around?
There are legal questions, too. What kind of protection does an employer have against negligence suits? Can executive or legislative actions shield them from liability? Is the legal exposure worse than the viral?
Then, there are the financial unknowns. Does it make sense to reopen a restaurant with only half as many seats or a gym with half as many treadmills? What is the future of the downtown economy if the firms that lease office tower space keep employees working from home? What happens to hotels when large gatherings are banned for the rest of the year? Even LSU football is in question.
Read the full feature from the latest edition of Business Report, which takes a hard look at what the restarting could mean for Louisiana businesses.
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