Quarantine - Day 11

Today we made payroll paying a full amount of what would have been owed to our teaching artists had they worked.  Meanwhile, one of our invoices that was dated prior to the start of this all happening was not remitted because the “checks can only be cut in the office, and the office is currently closed.”  They can also not foresee when they will be able to process payment.  So there’s that.  This was a full day of homeschooling while Abbie prepped a video to submit as a finalist for her LA internship.  After spending the morning trying to solve cash flow issues, we participated in a webinar on what the SBA loan situation may look like in our sector.  I have one loan request already in and working, but now that the latest relief bill has been passed, we are possibly looking at another.  I am wary of financing anything with no promise of future revenue to satisfy the loans. 

As much uncertainty as our business has faced in its nine year history, nothing really compares to this in my mind.  This pandemic is like a huge reset button on all expectations.  It is also a reminder to not take things for granted of course.  Still, Ella had tears late in the evening as she does not like how much things have changed.  She misses her friends, gym class, circus club, and the life she was used to.  I tried my best to cheer her up, but I don’t think I was very convincing, because I’m not sure I was fully convinced myself in what I was saying.  Saying that things will one day be back to normal doesn’t make it so.  For the first time, the US has surpassed every other country in its caseload with over 85,600 known cases out of 531,860 globally.  We now have almost 4,000 more cases than China.  Cases have surged in Illinois to 2,538 with now 26 fatalities.  Almost half of the state’s cases are in Chicago.