SYRACUSE, N.Y (NCC News) – Beginning Tuesday April 6th, New Yorkers over the age of 16 are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. The announcement came while Governor Andrew Cuomo broadened vaccine eligibility to adults over the age of thirty this week.
As more members of the central New York community establish immunity to the Coronavirus, local store owners like Dave Jacobs are wondering if this will lead to an increase in business.
“I think people will get out more,” Jacobs, the owner of Marshall Street’s Shirt World , said. “There are a bunch of people that are pretty guarded, they wanna kinda be selective where they go and what they do.”
While COVID-19 ravished the United States, many fearful consumers opted for online shopping, which hurt local businesses that did not have an online store capable of meeting high demands. In addition, due to social-distancing measures, businesses could not operate at full capacity, culminating in decreased profit margins over the past year.
Jacobs believes the more people that get their vaccine, the more that will be willing to return to shopping in public per usual. In addition, his store and many others can begin amending or lifting altogether many of the COVID safety protocols they have been required to implement.
Syracuse University sophomore, Connor Burke, was among those able to get vaccinated and he says it has given him a tremendous sense of relief.
“I feel more comfortable around people,” Burke said. “I’m excited I can go out and not have that cloud over me like ‘oh this could be dangerous.’”
Burke’s enviable position will be the reality for many central New Yorkers over the coming months while vaccination numbers increase. A sense of normalcy seems to be returning as the summer season approaches, but whether or not this affects the local economy remains to be seen.
While 2020 was an incredibly hard year for small businesses, the tide could finally be shifting for the better.
