Buy local and help ease blow

IF there was ever a time to support local business in North Queensland it is now.

The Townsville economy is in for a rough time as the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the country.

It’s still early days, and no one knows how much worse the situation will get, but already the town and business people are hurting.

Government measures to stop the spread of the virus have cancelled major events and restricted the number of people that can attend bars, restaurants and clubs.

Airlines have reduced the number of flights coming into the city. Employers are ordering employees to work from home in a bid to protect others from infection.

All these factors and more, combined with the fear of contracting the virus, is doing nothing for business or consumer confidence.

All will impact the profitability of small businesses.

But these are unprecedented times and we must make these decisions to even out the pressure on our health services and hopefully save lives.

But if we are smart, we can reduce the economic impact on Townsville at the same time.

The first thing is that we need to shop locally. If you have money to spend don’t do it online, venture out safely to a local business and support the community.

If you want to eat out but are worried about contracting COVID-19, order it and pick it up as a takeaway.

Luckily Townsville is insulated to a certain extent compared to other centres.

The economy is broad-based and not reliant on just one industry, giving us some protection.

But we still need to join together in isolation to help the town through this tough time.

Like Mayor Jenny Hill says, people still need to go out and do the shopping, buy dresses.

We can all continue to lead reasonably normal lives in this crisis and help local business.