Op-ed: Corporate leaders need to ‘talk sense with Trump’ about the spread of Covid-19

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Target had already spent $1 billion increasing pay to its hourly workers, as well as providing paid leave and safety equipment including masks. Walmart, the nation’s leading retailer, spent $900 million in the quarter ended April 30. Kroger shelled out $830 million on similar expenses, and Home Depot $640 million.

“A clearer picture will come when more firms report their results for the current quarter, beginning next month,” the Journal added.

That may be the case in the sense of Securities and Exchange Commission filings, but big and small businesses are already generating updated reports.

Apple announced last week it was closing 14 stores in Florida it had re-opened because of rising COVID-19 infection rates. That came less than a week after it said it was re-closing 11 stores in Florida as well as Texas, Arizona, North Carolina and South Carolina for the same reason.

All told, the tech giant has now re-closed 32 stores because of the surge.

Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida, two of President Trump’s Republican allies who were among the first to re-open their states after the initial March lockdown, announced Friday they were re-closing bars in their states in an effort to limit the virus’s spread.

Scientists have made clear for months the only way to control the virus before a vaccine’s available is to socially distance. That initially meant shuttering our economy to prevent a surge of infections from overwhelming our nation’s hospitals.

Trump and Congress wisely stepped in, providing financial aid to corporations and small businesses, as well as cash payments to affected American workers. Enhanced unemployment checks will help the furloughed or laid-off through July, at least. The Federal Reserve stepped up to support Wall Street.

The world’s biggest economy can’t stay shut forever, though, so both the government and public health community outlined the conditions for re-opening: continued social distancing, as well as increased testing to locate the infected, and contact tracing to track down and isolate those who may have come in contact with a person carrying the virus.

Big and small business spent the lockdown reconfiguring themselves, spacing desks, installing touchless doors and sinks, reducing customer capacity and creating one-way traffic patterns.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/30/op-ed-corporate-leaders-need-to-step-up-to-halt-coronavirus-spread.html