a20 eZ re k the washington post.monday, july 27 , 2020
break, such as Arizona, Te xas and
New York.
The wave of permanent clo-
sures helps explain why, five
months into the crisis, the num-
ber of Americans filing new un-
employment claims remains
stratospherically high.
Jobless claims had been slowly
declining from their peak in late
March, but in the past week, they
reversed course and rose by
109,000 to 1,416,000. Similarly,
separate data shows p ermanent
job losses continue to climb even
as the headline unemployment
rate falls.
“This data suggests that eco-
nomic damage continues to accu-
mulate,” said Adam Ozimek, chief
economist at U pwork. “They were
hidden by a wave of workers re-
turning from temporary layoffs in
the last two months, but if you
look beyond the headline num-
bers, it’s c lear we are not out of the
woods yet.”
The losses could grow as states
hit the brakes on reopening and
federal aid runs out. Data from
OpenTable shows r estaurant ac-
tivity in the United States has
started to taper off again, after
some states’ aggressive reopening
strategies ran headlong into a
surging virus.
In a separate analysis of data
from payroll processor ADP, econ-
omists found the Paycheck Pro-
tection Program had boosted em-
ployment by between 1.4 million
and 3.2 million during its brief
existence. That would mean the
temporary program accounted
for as much as half of the private-
sector job gains seen between
April and June. As the program
runs its course, the people whose
employment it guaranteed may
once again find themselves out of
work.
Weekly Census Bureau survey
data analyzed by Ernie Te deschi,
head of fiscal analysis at Evercore
ISI, shows employment has fallen
since the Labor Department’s op-
timistic June jobs report. It hints
job gains could begin to evaporate
in c oming months as temporary
economic damage becomes per-
manent.
[email protected]Trohv, a vintage decor and gift
shop in Baltimore, will shutter
after 14 years, according to the
Baltimore Sun. Guthrie’s Tavern
in Chicago is closing up shop after
34 years, the Chicago Tribune
reported. Austin bowling alley
Dart Bowl will end its 62-year
run, according to the Austin
American-Statesman. In Seattle,
Jules Maes Saloon endured 132
years, but has fallen thanks to a
pandemic and rent costs, Eater
Seattle reports.
Losses have been highest in
tourism-heavy states such as Ha-
waii and Nevada, as well as states
that were hit hard by the out-closings go on, the more of them
will turn permanent,” he added.
Permanent losses are highest
in the restaurant sector, both
overall and also relative to tempo-
rary closures, Yelp’s data science
team found. Retail accounts for
another huge swath of the dam-
age, as do smaller but hard-hit
sectors such as beauty, nightlife
and fitness.
Examples are distressingly
easy to find. News searches for the
phrase “closing permanently”
quickly become overwhelming.
With every lost business, the sev-
ered community ties go deeper
and deeper.BY ANDREW VAN DAMThe economic crisis caused by
the novel coronavirus pandemic
has entered a new phase, with
permanent business closures
now outnumbering temporary
ones, data shows.
In April, as the nation shut
down and government bailout
money flowed, it felt as if U.S.
main streets had been put on
pause. Everything was on hold
until we beat the virus.
But we haven’t beaten the vi-
rus. And with that bailout money
running dry, a report from the
online review site Yelp shows
that, as the healthiest businesses
have reopened and the ranks of
permanent casualties have
swelled, it’s more likely than not
that a closed business is gone for
good.
As o f mid-July, 55 percent of the
132,500 pandemic-related clo-
sures on Yelp are now permanent.
The online review site’s database
includes hundreds of consumer-
facing industries, from ax throw-
ing and wine tasting to cabinetry
and boat dealers, and only counts
closures that have been con-
firmed by Yelp’s user operations
team or reported directly by the
owner of the business.
The nascent recovery has en-
tered a crucial period. During the
coming months, expiring leases
will force many more businesses
to make existential decisions, said
Harvard University postdoctoral
researcher Michael Stepner, who
has been tracking business per-
formance during the pandemic.
“Businesses are needing to de-
cide, ‘Do I renew my lease on my
space for another year?’ It i s really
hard to make a one-year commit-
ment to paying rent when busi-
nesses are closing down for the
second time and there’s no end in
sight to this virus,” Stepner said.
“The longer these temporarycOmpaNIeS
NCI Information Systems o f
Reston appointed Chuck Hicks
chief operating officer.
aSSOcIaTIONS
a Nd NONpROfITS
Common Cause of the District
appointed Pam Wilmot v ice
president of s tate o perations.
Islamic Relief USA of
Alexandria appointed Mayssoun
Olabi communications and
media r elations manager.law aNd lObbyINg
Alston & Bird of t he D istrict
appointed Eric Kuwana p artner.
Hirsch of Ty sons a ppointed
David Swan partner in t he firm’s
bankruptcy, r estructuring and
creditors’ rights practice group.
Jenner & Block of t he D istrict
appointed Charles Galbraithpartner.
Steptoe of the District
appointed William Keyser
partner.
Weil of the D istrict appointed
Daniel Nicholas partner in t he
firm’s g lobal t ax practice.send information about promotions,
appointments and personnel moves
in the washington region to
[email protected].capital business
appOINTmeNTSCompany Insider Title Date Action Shares Price Now holds
Cogent Communications Holdings John B. Chang Officer July 21 Sold 500 85 26,
Precigen Helen Sabzevari Chief executive July 20 Sold 12,220 4.58 402,
Thomson FinancialTr ading as reported by companies’ directors, presidents, chief financial officers, general counsel, chief executives,
chairmen and other officers, or by beneficial owners of more than 10 percent of a company’s stock.TRaNSacTIONSlevel in three decades, according to
the American Bankers Association.
More threatening for banking
officials is not the would-be robber
coming through their doors but the
anonymous hacker sifting through
their computer networks.
“There is a lot more risk now in
robbing a bank,” said Jerry Clark, a
former FBI agent and now an asso-
ciate professor of criminal justice
at Gannon University in Erie, Pa.
“You take a lot less risk through the
Internet and defrauding online.”
But masks could prove problem-
atic. “It does provide opportunity
that would be a little bit concern-
ing to me,” Clark said.
In the meantime, many bankbranches remain closed. In the
ones that are open, customers are
often asked to make an appoint-
ment or use a drive-through win-
dow. Banks are also widely promot-
ing online banking options and
their mobile phone apps.
“We have seen a significant in-
crease in online banking across the
country, but we realize some cus-
tomers occasionally need to visit a
branch and some prefer it,” said
Paul Benda, who oversaw a Penta-
gon program to defend against
chemical and biological weapons
and is leading risk management at
the American Bankers Association.
Part of the problem for banks is
while customers can walk into astore and buy groceries or clothes
anonymously, banking transaction
fall under extensive regulatory
scrutiny.
Banks are required to know
whom they are doing business
with and verify their identity.
The Independent Community
Bankers of America said it is en-
couraging members to provide
masks for employees and custom-
ers. It’s a “ risk-based decision,” said
Steven Estep, director of opera-
tional risk at t he trade group.
Even when required to wear a
mask, customers could be asked to
remove them long enough to be
identified, he said.
[email protected]JeeNah mooN/bloomberg News
Bank of America is one of the financial institutions requiring masks to be worn inside its offices. Wells
Fargo has a mask rule in place for customers, and JPMorgan Chase employees use face coverings.BY RENAE MERLEMasks are mandatory at Wal-
mart, Ta rget and a growing num-
ber of other retailers. President
Trump, who long resisted being
photographed while wearing a
mask, now encourages the public
to use masks and said he carries
one with him.
But for U.S. banks, widespread
adoption has been trickier. The
cloth face coverings that public
health officials consider one of the
best defenses against the novel
coronavirus threat could double
as a handy disguise for robbers,
they say.
Mask requirements “create the
very real risk of increases in bank
robberies,” a top financial regula-
tor said recently.
Banks generally prohibit cus-
tomers entering their branches
from wearing items that could
shield their i dentities. No h oodies
or sunglasses. Masks have been a
big no-no.
“Wearing a mask at any busi-
nesses, especially a bank, just a
few months ago would have
raised a lot of eyebrows,” said
Richard Hunt, president of the
Consumer B ankers Association.
The American Bankers Associ-
ation, the industry’s largest lobby-
ing group, said recently that it was
“urging” its members to require
customers to wear masks. “We
owe it to front-line bank staff to
prioritize their safety and to con-
tribute to the wider effort to limit
the spread of this infection,” said
Rob Nichols, the group’s presi-
dent and chief executive.
Relaxing the rules prohibiting
face coverings initially made
sense, Brian P. Brooks, the acting
comptroller of the currency, said
in a letter to the U.S. Conference of
Mayors last month. “That may
have been a prudent decision
when the extent of the health risk
was still unknown,” he said.
But it’s n ot sustainable, he said.
“Lengthy and potentially perma-
nent requirements that individu-
als wear face masks in many or
even all public spaces create the
very real risk of increases in bank
robberies,” he said.
There have already been “re-
cent reports of face-covering-re-
lated robberies at bank branches
... [making] clear that broadly
applicable face mask require-
ments are not safe or sustainable
on a permanent basis,” h e said.
In one case, a man walked into
a Houston bank with a bandanna
covering his face and handed a
teller a note: “I didn’t get a stimu-
lus or that 10k loan. I lost my
business to Covid so please makethis easy and comply.”
Another would-be robber in
Florida, entered a Wells Fargo
branch wearing sunglasses,
gloves and a white cone-like mask
over his face. He approached a
teller’s window demanding mon-
ey, according to the arrest war-
rant.
But the bank employee had
trouble hearing the robber’s de-
mands through the mask. “The
male got upset and repeated him-
self several times” and eventually
left empty-handed, according to
the arrest warrant.
“It appears the suspect was tak-
ing advantage of the COVID-
protocols in wearing a mask to
conceal his identity to commit
crimes,” the warrant said.
Despite the robbery attempt,
Wells Fargo on July 13 began re-
quiring customers to wear masks.
They are also required by Bank of
America.
JPMorgan Chase said its em-
ployees are required to wear
masks, but t he financial institu-
tion would comply w ith local ordi-
nances when it comes to custom-
ers. The bank says it is continuing
to review its policies.
Of course, the threat of bank
robberies has been fading for years
as video surveillance inside and
outside branches became com-
mon. There were 2,975 bank rob-
beries in 2018, down from 7,556 in
2004, according to FBI statistics.
Bank robberies are at their lowestCustomers’ use of masks creates
an additional challenge for banks
Robbers and concerns
about verifying identities
are on officials’ mindsSource: Yelp THE WASHINGTON POSTBusiness closures by state
Fr om March 1 to July 10, shown per 1,000 businessesSouth DakotaNorth DakotaMississippiDelawareWest VirginiaWyomingMontanaArkansasIowaAlabamaNebraskaAlaskaPennsylvaniaKansasNew HampshireWisconsinOklahomaIndianaLouisianaVermontConnecticutOhioKentuckySouth CarolinaMaineNorth CarolinaTennesseeMichiganMarylandGeorgiaIdahoMissouriRhode IslandNew JerseyD.C.MinnesotaNew MexicoMassachusettsVirginiaUtahFloridaIllinoisNew YorkTexasColoradoOregonWashingtonArizonaCaliforniaNevadaHawaii0
of every 1,000 businesses3691215Permanent TemporaryA business still shuttered at this point
is seen as unlikely to make a comeback
Restaurants, retail shops
and tourist destinations
pay heavy virus tollsSource: Yelp THE WASHINGTON POSTPermanent closures now outnumber temporary ones
Business closures on Yelp since March 1050,100,150,200,0 00May June JulyPermanentTemporarySource: Yelp THE WASHINGTON POSTBusiness closures by industry
Fr om March 1 to July 10, select industriesFitnessBars & NightlifeBeauty and SpasShopping & RetailRestaurants0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,00 0Permanent Temporary