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We asked: How has the pandemic affected you financially? Some of the answers were heartbreaking.
Like a lot of Illinoisans, the coronavirus pandemic has hit Nicholas Senffner hard.
Restaurants and bars shutting down took a big toll on the 37-year-old, who owns a window-cleaning business that operates all over Chicago and the suburbs.
“It’s completely killed us, the way they shut down the restaurants,” said Senffner, of Lockport. “They’re not getting their windows cleaned if they’re not making money.”
Senffner says he built his business over 15 years and normally would work 12 hours a day five days a week. Now, he’s lucky to get two or three days of work each week: “Last year, I was a six-figure company,” he said. “This year, we’re barely pushing five.”
It’s meant laying off two employees and cutting back things like visiting his family in Colorado.
“It was horrible, I mean, this was 15 years of hard work, of day in and day out of building routes and gaining customers, making sure that everything ran like clockwork. I watched my whole world fall apart.”
He doesn’t think business will ever return to what it was, given that many of his customers were mom-and-pop shops that have permanently closed, some having taken a double hit from the pandemic and from looting after the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd while being restrained by a police officer.
“It hasn’t been easy. I’m just trying to ride this year out until it’s all over with, and they get back to work.”
News
12:03 p.m. Survey finds teens will follow COVID rules, but want specifics
America’s teens and young adults have a crucial role in containing the spread of COVID-19, but a series of youth surveys suggests that many misunderstand social distancing guidelines and want clearer advice on how to safely live their lives.
This is especially relevant now that universities are back in session and many campuses are seeing COVID-19 outbreaks.
Over the last several months, a team at the University of Michigan has conducted several national text-message surveys of more than 1,000 American youth ages 14-24 to better understand what they are going through during the pandemic.
The responses by young people in their surveys suggest that they are taking the pandemic seriously, but want more concrete guidance: advice that gives them safe ways to socialize, not just rules for what they can’t do
Read our guest column from the researchers involved in the study here.
8:43 a.m. Dentists see surge of oral health problems, and the pandemic is likely to blame
Stress and isolation brought on by the pandemic are certainly bad for our mental health, and dentists say they’re seeing evidence our oral health is suffering, too.
Dentists say reports of a huge spike in cracked teeth are just the start of the problem.
“It’s like a perfect storm,” says Dr. Michael Dickerson, an independent practice owner with Aspen Dental in Tarpon Springs, Florida, who says the patients he sees need “a ton of work.”
One factor in the upswing: The first patients to go back to the dentist after widespread stay-at-home orders were likely the most in need.
Also, before shutdowns, lockdowns and quarantines, “Your day had a rhythm to it,” American Dental Association spokesman Dr. Matthew Messina says. When that rhythm is interrupted, it’s easy to forget “simple little things like oral hygiene.”
Other factors leading to dental problems: Teeth grinding due to stress is probably up. Brushing and flossing are probably down as good habits slip and social outings decline. Routine cleanings have been put off.
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Analysis & Commentary
7:47 a.m. Rosh Hashanah livestreamed in COVID-19 era
The Jewish year of … checking … 5781 begins at sundown Friday, and is a reminder that the Chosen People are not newcomers at celebrating holidays during hard times. As grim as the COVID pandemic has been, it doesn’t hold a candle to Babylonian captivity or Roman persecution, the Inquisition or the Holocaust.
Not yet, anyway.
The business of maintaining Jewish identity, already under siege by modern life, is complicated in the Plague Year of 2020 as Judaism celebrates Rosh Hashanah — literally, “head of the year” — and then atones for sins in the year to come at Yom Kippur nine days later.
“This is an interesting year, unlike any other,” said Rabbi Steven Lowenstein, whom I called because his synagogue, Am Shalom of Glencoe, is one of many streaming high holiday services.
