Sen. Lindsey Graham estimated that the coronavirus has shut down nearly three-quarters of the U.S. economy.
The South Carolina Republican spoke with Fox News on Sunday morning to discuss the COVID-19 virus pandemic and the federal government’s plans to fight the illness while offering financial aid to businesses and individuals. Graham said that the virus has “virtually shut down” the economy, leaving millions of U.S. citizens effectively unemployed.
“I believe 70% of the economy is shutdown simply because you can’t be around 10 people,” he said.
“You’ve got the two largest states in the union basically shutdown,” Graham continued, referring to strict emergency regulations in place in California and New York. “That affects all of us. As long as we say as a nation, ‘Stay away from each other,’ they’re really — everybody virtually is unemployed. You can work from home and all that good stuff, but the economy is virtually shutdown to try to defeat the virus.”
Over half of small business owners say they will go bankrupt if the coronavirus pandemic is not dealt with within three months, according to a Goldman Sachs survey released last week. Nearly all small businesses have been affected by the coronavirus outbreak and are seeing significantly fewer customers. Just 13% of small business owners expressed confidence in their plans to weather the crisis.
Large corporations are also cutting staff to survive the pandemic, including Marriott International, the largest hotel chain in the world, which is furloughing tens of thousands of its 175,000-member global.
