Coping With COVID

Ashley Audisho and Lindsey Wydick

Businesses and Professionals Face Uneven Impact

BY PAUL NATINSKY

The coronavirus crisis ushered in a crazy quilt of regulations, ever-shifting medical science and chaos of different degrees for businesses. 

In Michigan, experiences under quarantine and reopening are as varied as the myriad theories about how COVID-19 is transmitted. 

Mike Sarafa is part owner of a company that operates almost 400 SuperCuts salons in seven states, including 80 stores in Michigan. The late March government-imposed lockdown temporarily shuttered Michigan operations and forced the company to furlough thousands of employees companywide. 

 SuperCuts provided health insurance benefits to its 98 percent female workforce—many of them moms—during the shutdown. The company also provided a small bonus in March and paid a similar return-to-work bonus June 22, when employees returned to work. Sarafa said 90 percent of his Michigan workforce was expected back, a similar return rate to Ohio, where 85 percent of employees were back on the job in late May.

“We have spent a lot of time and resources building the culture that we’re proud of,” says Sarafa.

The company drew on a combination of credit lines and PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loans to weather the crisis. Still, with reduced capacity to accommodate social distancing, the cost of personal protective equipment and zero revenue during the shutdown, Sarafa says the company has suffered.

“If we’re lucky and business goes as we hope, we think we can dig out of it in the next 12 months. It’s a huge hole, about 30 percent of our revenue for the year,” he explained.

Enduring changes attributable to COVID include eliminating the waiting area and banning cash payments. Customers wait for their appointments in cars and can only use plastic in the store to avoid using germ-laden currency.

“This thing is real,” Sarafa said of the coronavirus. “I don’t want (the Chaldean community) to be too cavalier about it. A lot of people think that there was something not exactly true about what was going on, and I think that’s a mistake. There’s too many scientists and too many medical professionals on the frontlines of this stuff that understand very clearly what we’re up against and we should listen to them.”

Sarafa said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was right to respect the seriousness of the pandemic, but wishes she had been better about transparency and communication.

“It was very unclear and very hard to know in Michigan what we were up against, what kind of timelines we were talking about, what they were measuring for, what they were looking for,” he said. He pointed out that dental offices and dozens of other personal contact businesses reopened weeks before hair salons.

Sarafa said Ohio, where the company also does business, was more clear about what was expected, resulting in a quarter of the deaths and half the infections occurring in Michigan, and enabling businesses to reopen weeks earlier.

Double Whammy
Ashley Audisho works as a medical/surgical nurse at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. In addition to being a frontline worker, she has scheduled a wedding for September in front of, originally, 700 guests. The guest list is now 300. Families will sit together and hand sanitizer passed around to accommodate COVID concerns. A June 2021 backup date provides her peace of mind against unpredictable changes in the course of the pandemic.

Audisho works on the only floor in the hospital that is a non-COVID floor. Still, she has been pressed into service on coronavirus areas four or five times. In addition to the stress of risking infection, she says it takes five minutes to gear up for COVID patient contact and another five minutes to safely gear down and dispose of contaminated PPE. And that is every time a nurse leaves and enters a COVID patient’s room. 

“People now kind of see what you do. A nurse’s job is hard as it is before COVID, but I think now because of everything that is going on, people have a better appreciation for nurses,” she says. “But also UPS workers, people who work in grocery stores. You appreciate people so much more because they don’t have a choice, they don’t have the ability to stay home and work from home.”

As nice as it is to be considered a hero, Audisho says healthcare workers often receive tentative reactions when they are in public and sometimes feel obligated to notify those in contact with them that they work in healthcare.

Mixed Bag
Real estate was completely shut down from mid-March through May 7, said Tammy Jonna, a real estate agent with DOBI Real Estate.

Jonna has been in residential real estate for a little more than five years. “When my three boys were getting older and in school full-time, it felt like a natural path for me with a background in sales and customer service.” 

“Initially, we had several restrictions such as PPE requirements and limited people at each showing—no more than four people in a property at one time,” she said. “We were not allowed to hold any open houses. People were still very nervous to allow showings or to go see other homes. The restrictions were lifted in early June.  We are now allowed to conduct open houses and the number of people at a showing is no longer limited.”

Still, business is not as usual. “I take every necessary precaution when it comes to social distancing,” said Jonna. “It is critically important that I set a good example for my clients, and that they see that I take their health and wellbeing seriously.  My brokerage, DOBI Real Estate has provided all of the agents with PPE kits that include branded masks and hand sanitizer.  I keep kits in my car for listing appointments and showings.”

The initial impact was jarring and the industry overall saw a massive decrease in activity, said Jonna. However, being under quarantine for nearly three months made people realize that their needs and expectations have changed.

“I saw a funny meme in April that said ‘How do you like that open floor plan now?’ It’s funny but true! Most families can relate to this. The wants and needs of a home have changed due to COVID. For example, the home office is a popular request these days now that offices are having their employees work more from home. Several families have decided they need more space, or just the opposite, people need to downsize. Either way, the pause in the industry created a pent up demand and with interest rates being so low, affordability is going up. We are seeing several multiple offer situations in the market right now because sellers are selling at a more realistic price.”

Silver Lining
Entrepreneur Brandon Kammo started The Beverage Cart (thebeveragecart.com) in February of 2019, partnering with liquor stores to provide local delivery within an hour through an online portal. Taking advantage of a 2017 change in the law that allows liquor delivery, The Beverage Cart serves as the online marketing and processing arm for 20 liquor stores covering territory between Ann Arbor and Warren, Royal Oak and Sterling Heights and beyond. Kammo figures it will take 50 to 100 store/partners to provide “blanket coverage” so that no one entering an address is out of range. 

“We’re just starting out, but this COVID crisis has lifted us to a whole new level,” said Kammo. While shopping and delivery apps are trending up, Kammo says TBC’s 60-minute delivery window sets his service apart. He takes particular pride in fact that alcoholic beverage delivery expands the universe of products that can be had without leaving home, allowing those adhering to coronavirus precautions to refrain from in-store purchasing and reducing their risk of contracting or spreading the virus. 

As the course of the pandemic continues on its confusing and uneven path, people press on, finding innovative ways to continue to serve the community through their businesses. For some, the path will be easier than for others, but all seem determined to persevere.