The resurgence of coronavirus cases in certain parts of the country is having a chilling effect on commerce in those areas.
Restaurant reservations have flagged in areas where spikes in infections are occurring, according to the restaurant app OpenTable.
Phoenix, Arizona, has seen a decline of at least 60% in restaurant reservations since infections started to increase after a lull earlier in the month. The city suffered a 2,233 spike in virus infections on Tuesday.
Reservations have also recently declined by roughly 70% in Houston, Texas, where the infection rate is now 1.3 times greater than it was seven days ago.
The reopening of restaurants has been blamed for the spike in infections in Florida, according to Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.
“When we started opening up our restaurants, unfortunately, I think society started to think that we were signaling the all-clear,” he told the Local 10 news station.
Hospital numbers are ticking up around Miami, according to the mayor, who urged his citizens to follow pandemic guidelines to keep safe.
“If we don’t act now, if we are not disciplined, this could get out of control,” he said.
Florida reported 5,508 new cases overnight, CNBC reported on Wednesday. That figure beats the previous one-day record of 4,049.
It also appears that people are unwilling to travel to these virus hot spots.
In Austin, Texas, which had over 1,000 new cases last weekend and whose mayor said the risk of catching the virus is 3 times greater than it was two weeks ago, the number of searches for flights to that city fell 12% for the week ending June 21, according to the travel search engine KAYAK.
Flight searches for Miami, Florida, declined by 13% for the week ending June 21. Florida reported a record high of 5,508 additional cases of COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.
Hours worked have decreased in states dealing with a rise in coronavirus infections.
Homebase, an organization that helps businesses record workers’ timesheets, has a database that shows that the number of hours worked in Texas, Arizona, and Florida have declined by roughly 4% over the last seven days.
The spike in virus infections prompted Apple to close its stores in Houston. The computer retailer closed 11 stores in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Arizona last week because of increased infections of the disease.
