Cities all across the world have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Small businesses have struggled to maintain a consistent income, especially in college towns. College towns such as Blacksburg (Virginia Tech) have taken massive blows due to the lack of tailgating and bars being closed. Blacksburg is a town that relies on the business of student, families of students, and alumni, not receiving much income from townies and surrounding citizens. Many thought that the arrival of students back on campus would give the economy a much needed boost and push us in the right direction. For college towns like Blacksburg that was not the case, as student bodies across the country are held with many restrictions on what they can do while on campus. Small businesses and restaurants in Blacksburg have experienced no real change in income the past month.
Small businesses and restaurants aren't the only operations in towns getting impacted. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Tom Norman, general manager of the Courtyard by Marriott in Blacksburg, said his and other hotels lost most of their bookings after the virus began to erase many of the reasons that bring visitors to Blacksburg." In my opinion, sports and other attractive events need to be brought back to colleges in order to bump the economy and help save the college towns financially.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/college-town-economies-suffer-as-students-avoid-bars-football-tailgating-11600686000?mod=hp_lead_pos10
I think this is something most people don't think of when going back to campus. I am sure Delaware has benefitted from Ohio Wesleyan opening back up. Most small businesses probably don't have a backup plan if OWU decides to go remote. I don't necessarily think in our case sports being canceled are an issue, however schools like Virginia Tech where most income comes from tailgating, it can be hard to come back from such a downfall.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it would be ideal to allow spectators at sporting and other events, with the way things are going in rise of cases, it doesn't seem feasible. It was seen after the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic that towns and cities that had the strictest shut down saw a greater economic revival.
ReplyDeleteI think that in the future we will see the closing of many ma and pa shops around the U.S. Big schools may change their local businesses to chain restaurants and stores. However, I think that we should not rush opening spork because of the long term impact it could have on the economy. If cases continue to rise through 2021, we may see more damaging effects on the economy than if things did not reopen.
ReplyDeletei agree with Racheal, that right now it seems like a good idea to start to ease up but it has been show that towns with the hardest set of restriction have recovered the most in the long run economy
ReplyDeleteCollege in small towns are extremely important for the economy in those specific towns. Even in a big city like Columbus, much of the population is dependent upon the students of OSU, which means most of the consumer spending depends on those very students. Most businesses like restaurants, clubs etc. depends on that population, because otherwise it would be a downfall for them and the GDP. However, at the same time, I believe the pandemic has been a huge blow for the whole world and should not be taken lightly. We all know how important it is to follow the safety precautions. Some of us have had real time experiences in these matters, and loosing a loved one has no comparison towards GDP of the country. Because if the country lets businesses, corporates, schools and colleges open, it might work for a while but no type of safety measure would be a 100%. There is always room for error and that error could not only cause many deaths, but also cause those same businesses to lose their customers, along with decreased consumer spending, which would essentially give another blow to the economy, making any chance of recovery, impossible.
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