ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Monday marks the start of a two-week shutdown and all non essential businesses are closed and New Mexicans are asked to stay at home. While some businesses are shifting their business model to make due, other’s can’t and say the closure will devastate them.
New Mexico is seeing a huge surge in COVID-19 cases with the bulk of those in Albuquerque and in the Las Cruces areas. On Friday, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham ordered the closure which she calls a “reset” aimed on getting us back on track.
Gyms, salons, and all non-essential businesses have to close Monday, Nov. 16. Restaurants are limited to carry-out and delivery only. Big box stores can allow 25% of their maximum occupancy inside however, small business owners who have to close their doors for the second time are feeling forgotten about.
“They shut down the mom and pops so I won’t go there but I’ll go to Walmart. Why don’t we do it the opposite and shut down the big corporations,” said Joel Palomarez, master barber at J&J Barbers. Palomarez owns his own barbershop in Las Cruces and employs eight people.
Now, all of those individuals are without a job for at least the next couple of weeks. Palomarez says he believes a plan should have been in place to help small businesses before things came to this.
If the shutdown extends past two weeks, he isn’t sure if his business can survive. The state says after the two weeks are up restrictions will be lifted depending on the case count for the county you live in.
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