Thomas Clouse

An official with the Washington state system that processes unemployment claims told Spokane area business leaders Thursday that her agency is adding staff but still can’t keep up with the volume of calls and questions coming from persons who have lost jobs during the coronavirus pandemic.

While community banks were the first to offer a lifeline to local businesses through a $349 billion program set up by the U.S. Small Business Association, national bank chains have begun to process the loans that are designed to give owners the money to keep paying their employees.

Plagued by an overwhelming response and a balky computer system, the U.S. Small Business Administration has yet to pay out any of $349 billion in relief to help small-business owners weather the coronavirus pandemic.

Just as thousands of employees have swamped the system seeking unemployment relief, business owners have inundated the government system in place to administer the $350 billion set aside to help companies shut down as a result of the stay-at home order to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

It’s apparently a good time to be a chicken. Well, at least one that lays eggs sometime soon.

Crews at Marci Green’s farm south of Spokane are finishing months worth of mechanic work and preparations until the weather warms the soil enough to begin the spring wheat planting.

Washington manufacturers, including one in Spokane Valley, could sign up to make the equipment needed to beat the COVID-19 pandemic the way a previous generation of state residents worked to win World War II, Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday.

The union that represents grocery workers in Spokane and North Idaho announced a deal Wednesday with Kroger, which owns Fred Meyer stores, to increase worker pay by $2 an hour for those employees who continue to work at grocery stores during the pandemic.

With about 75 percent of the nation under stay-at-home orders, agriculture officials said they do not fear that food-processing operations pose a risk for spreading the coronavirus.

Spokane area banks and credit unions are now offering payment deferments that allow anyone who has lost their job as a result of the coronavirus outbreak to put a hold on paying mortgages and some loans to help them through the crisis, officials said.

Spokane-area farmers have begun spring planting, and apple growers set a new sales record during panic buying as the region continues to adjust to a pandemic that has disrupted most daily lives.

The decision earlier this week by Gov. Jay Inslee to consider construction as a non-essential business has caused local homebuilders to mostly shut down and caused disruption with some homebuyers who now have to wait for completion.

A day after telling employees it would remain open, Huntwood Industries abruptly changed course Thursday and laid off the bulk of about 500 employees at its Liberty Lake headquarters.

Even though he believed his Spokane-based cleaning business fit Gov. Jay Inslee’s definition of “essential,” owner Mark Silver pondered his friend who has a compromised immune system. Silver then shut everything down.

Shoppers at the Rosauers in north Spokane were greeted Wednesday with an employee holding a spray bottle and a towel. He wiped down every cart handle before handing it to shoppers.

The paper products aisles at several Spokane grocery stores on Wednesday afternoon continued to be deserted islands of shelves with placards reminding shoppers to take just one package each. While supply chains are improving at local stores, managers believe it could take suppliers weeks to catch up to the panic-buying onslaught that emptied most supplies of paper products, flour, sugar, eggs, pasta, canned goods and sanitizing wipes.

With conditions changing sometimes by the minute, some area manufacturers are struggling to make sure employees remain safe while they try to keep their businesses viable.

About 100 Idaho restaurants have signed an open letter calling for Idaho Gov. Brad Little to follow his colleagues’ lead in other states to further protect employees and customers, and provide a safety net for thousands of employees who may lose work because of the coronavirus.

Spokane shoppers continue to ravage grocery store shelves, but they also have begun buying guns, ammunition and camping supplies as the coronavirus panic has turned to thoughts home defense.

Most counties in the state of Washington, including Spokane County, have been designated disaster areas, which qualifies area business owners to apply for loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration to help cover costs caused by the fiscal impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

Nordstrom announced Tuesday it is temporarily closing all of its stores in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The closures were expected to go into effect immediately.

Along with consumers’ mad dash to buy all the toilet paper stores can stock, some Spokane residents have either called their banks or chosen to withdraw cash as the stock market fluctuates and restaurants close.

Hotelier Walt Worthy announced Monday he has closed four of his five hotels in Spokane because of a lack of business and will be redirecting all of his patrons to stay in The Davenport Grand Hotel. Meanwhile, the Kalispel Tribe of Indians announced it was closing Northern Quest Resort & Casino in Airway Heights, after a visitor tested positive for COVID-19.