Sept. 23, 2021—One-third of small business owners across the U.S. have voluntarily reinstated pandemic restrictions during the latest surge in COVID-19 cases, CBS News reported.
The data was pulled from a recent survey by Kabbage, a small business lender owned by American Express. It’s a big change from as early as May, when 85 percent of small businesses were fully opened. That number fell to 63 percent in the latest survey.
Between July and August, Kabbage polled 550 small business leaders across the retail, health care, financial services, technology, food and other sectors. Some 35 percent of small business owners said they would require proof of vaccination for customers wishing to unmask.
But owners of the smallest firms — those with fewer than 20 employees — were the least likely to adopt and enforce such a requirement, presumably to avoid conflict with customers or the extra cost of requiring the vaccine by employees, according to the report.
