In less than two weeks since they announced the formation of a business task force to help reopen, repair, and restore Chester County’s economy, the Commissioners have brought together a team to focus on the county’s future business needs.

Members of the COVID-19 Business Task Force bring a wealth of business, economic, education, and government acumen to the group and the agreed first steps are to find out what Chester County’s 15,000-plus businesses need – and need to know – and help provide that in advance of moving to the yellow phase of reopening.

“Every day, we monitor our status in Chester County and weigh up the balance between the needs of our employers with the guidance of our Health Department,” said Chester County Commissioner Marian Moskowitz. “We are anxious for county business to resume, and through the incredible partnerships of our business task force members, we are working to prepare businesses for what they will need to start working again.

“Trying to determine the range of needs among our incredibly diverse and geographically wide-spread business community is a daunting task – especially when we are up against a tight timeline. But our nine regional chambers of commerce, our municipality representatives, and our industry-specific leaders are focusing on the first steps to prepare for reopening, and their networks ensure efficient communication to and from our thousands of businesses – large, medium and small.”

At the same time it is petitioning businesses on what they need to ensure their customers and employees remain protected from the coronavirus, the business task force is creating a “toolkit” using the mitigation strategies developed by the Commonwealth. Feedback from Chester County businesses will be compared with the state’s mitigation recommendations, to make sure the toolkit includes coronavirus prevention strategies that are realistic and therefore will be followed by county businesses.

“Beginning the two-way communication with all of our employers is crucial in determining what every different type of establishment needs to start back up, so that we – and they – can be sure they are ready when the time comes,” said Chester County Commissioner Josh Maxwell.

“The questions and requests from businesses could be as straightforward as supplying personal protection equipment to assure they are safe to begin operating. Or business owners, managers, and employees could have more specific questions about alternative ways to conduct their business that would allow them to safely provide more services during the defined ‘yellow’ phase.

“The advantage that we have in Chester County is that, in addition to this qualified task force, we have the Chester County Health Department. So when we receive and discuss creative ideas from employers for ways to safely reopen that are different from the traditional ways of working, then the task force can take those requests to the Health Department for review and potential sanctioning. This is what we mean by focusing on what is right for Chester County, and specifically for our employers and employees.”

Any Chester County employers who have considered different, creative ways to safely offer services to customers are encouraged to provide details of those ideas with the COVID-19 Business Task Force. Comments or questions can be e-mailed to business@chesco.org.

With the first step of the COVID-19 Business Task Force underway, the core team, along with the developing advisory committee, will begin measures to guide the development of Chester County’s longer-term economic recovery plan.

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