By Ludgy LaRochelle, Jayne Juvan, Christopher Hewitt, Brian O’Neill, and Thomas Ostrowski

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• The progression of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to have a devastating impact on the global economy, including adversely affecting the business operations and supply chains of the 30 million small businesses in the United States.
• In order to curb the economic impact on domestic businesses, the federal government, as part of the first phase of its economic stimulus package, has authorized the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to distribute up to $7 billion through the agency’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program to small businesses and nonprofits that are located in designated disaster areas affected by the coronavirus.
• As of March 20, 2020, the SBA has declared disaster areas in at least 19 states or U.S. territories, including certain counties in California and the entire state of Ohio.
• Due to the anticipated sheer volume of small businesses adversely impacted by the coronavirus, small businesses affected by the pandemic should proactively prepare for, and apply to, the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program to mitigate their respective losses caused by the coronavirus.

Read the Client Alert here.