With the coronavirus pandemic into its seventh week, Ontario’s Durham region is now focusing its attention on the recovery process.
The first priority, according to Regional Chair and CEO John Henry, is to get as many residents as possible back to work.
“Developments, site plans, all of this work is still ongoing so when we come out of this, we’re able to put all that work to great effort and get it out to the people who are doing the work and put a lot of people back to work really quickly,” Henry said.
The region predicts that by the end of May, the economic impact of the pandemic could be between $15 and $20 million.
Henry says even after the economy begins to reopen, it will take a while before life goes back to what it once was.
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“There’s going to be costs attached to this event,” Henry said.
“As long as we can get the work out the door, we can kick-start this economy.”
For small local businesses like The Beauty Room in Oshawa, the pandemic has taken a significant financial toll.
“It’s all we can do at this time — try to stay positive,” said co-owner Danielle Forbes.
“We’re all in this together. No business was prepared for something like this.”
Less than a year after opening, the company was forced to temporarily close its doors due to the virus outbreak.
Forbes says the business has lost close to 80 per cent of its revenue since the start of the pandemic.
“A lot of our income is through clients coming into the shop.”
The Beauty Room offers customers personal medical aesthetics, nails and waxing services. Fortunately, the store has been able to stay in business because of online sales.
The province has set out a phased plan for reopening the economy but has not yet announced dates.
The premier has said he won’t do so until the number of cases decreases over multiple weeks.
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