Courtesy of Peter Schmeck
HYANNIS – Businesses are continuing to feel the impacts of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, according to the Cape Cod Commission’s third COVID-19 business impact survey.
The survey was issued in January by the commission and the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, and 450 Cape businesses and nonprofits responded from every town.
“The goal was really a comprehensive effort to collect data that will help us to better understand the pandemic impacts to the Cape businesses and the business community so we can continue our efforts to build a resilient Cape economy and certainly look forward to a post-COVID economy here in the region,” said Cape Cod Commission Executive Director Kristy Senatori, during the most recent Cape Cod Reopening Task Force weekly meeting.
According to Senatori, the top three industries by response were retail, restaurants and food service, and accommodations.
85 percent of respondents reported year-over-year losses in the second quarter of 2020, and although they rebounded slightly in the summer, nearly 30 percent of respondents reported third and fourth quarter losses of 50 percent or more, said the Commission.
By December 2020, most respondents had reopened, but less than half were open fully and 10 percent were still fully closed.
The commission said the majority of the ten percent anticipate reopening at some point.
The Paycheck Protection Program was utilized widely across the Cape, with more than half of the respondents reporting having taken advantage of the loan program.
64 percent of respondents said they were approved for the full amount they applied for, and just under 80 percent expect to be fully refunded.
The commission reported that during the first survey issued during the spring of 2020, over 60 percent of respondents said they were using personal savings to keep their businesses afloat.
That number has now dropped to 40 percent, according to the third survey.
Over two thirds of respondents leveraged support with digital strategies such as social media and communications.
“This series of business surveys is also unprecedented in getting firsthand information on how the Cape’s economic condition is changing. This work informs our advocacy and business support services,” said Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce CEO Wendy Northcross in a statement.
“Cape Cod’s local businesses have shown their ability to adapt over the course of these last twelve challenging months.”
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