Lake County Gazette

Illinois House candidate Chris Bos’ pain over the COVID-19 crisis stems from personal experience.

“I have friends that own small businesses in this area and it’s heartbreaking to see them being hurt by this thing over and over,” Bos (R-Lake Zurich), running against incumbent Rep. Mary Edly-Allen (D-Libertyville) in the 51st District, told the Lake County Gazette. “Small businesses are the lifeblood of every community in the way they’re the first to hire and offer the most flexibility for working parents. That a lot of this is happening to them is totally unfair.”

With so many of those establishments now teetering on the brink in the face of the pandemic, Bos is hoping the government will step in to do more to help businesses fight another day. As it is, a new Coronavirus Small Business Survey by WalletHub finds that roughly 87 percent of all small businesses across the country say they’ve been negatively impacted by the pandemic, and more than one of every three add that they can only survive for a few weeks more under current conditions. In addition, 68 percent said they feel the government is not doing enough to help them.

Here in Illinois, Bos fears that things may be even tougher.

“We need to be telling these people what the metrics are for determining when they may be able reopen their businesses and reclaim their livelihoods,” he said. “Not knowing just makes things tougher. To have any chance of sustaining yourself, you have to know. Then on the federal side, a lot of the PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) money seems to be going to the bigger corporations over the small businesses. It’s just really tough.”