By: Rod Zook
hutchpost.com
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson and Reno County is starting to come out of the hibernation that was brought on by the pandemic.
“Now that we are back to a new sense of some normalcy businesses are reopening and traffic is picking up,” Chamber President Debra Teufel said. “I think there was just a lot of pent up demand and desire for people to get out and about again so we’ve seen traffic pick up again around Hutchinson and Reno County for sure.”
Teufel says while the unemployment numbers in Hutchinson were hard to look at, the city and county fared better than others in the area.
“Unemployment was at 11% for Hutchinson and at 10.2% for Reno County,” Teufel noted. “If there is any silver lining in that is that we’re lower than some of our neighboring counties. So in that respect, I think because of the diversification of the economy we will come out of this healthier than most, but there’s still going to be an uphill climb.”
Teufel says that the small mom and pop businesses are also moving forward again but in some cases, it will take some time to recover.
“The small mom and pop businesses are moving forward carefully,” Teufel said. “They want to protect themselves and their employees and their customers as well. So there’s been a lot of conversation about mask wearing and the importance of that just in protecting everyone.”
Teufel says many small businesses took advantage of the PPP program and the CARES Act.
“That’s been a blessing and so the quicker they could reopen and maximize the use of that program has been great.”
Teufel says the Rally Reno program has been great for the city and county providing support for those in need during the pandemic.