The entertainment, hospitality and retail industries were practically wiped out last year with the appearance of Covid – 19, which left a great amount of bankrupt businesses throughout the country. Since the beginning of the year, these three sectors of the national economy have struggled to recover throughout these months , despite this l a Delta variant and Its spread already causes fears, once again, about an eventual economic unemployment .
Government organizations, as well as those of the private sector have recognized that the US consumers have driven the economic recovery thanks to the help of stimulus checks , as well as the lifting of sanitary restrictions, which has led them to spend once again on services entertainment such as travel, dining and shopping for various items.
According to economists at Bank of America, the Delta variant and its rapid spread threatens to undo the progress made by companies in these sectors, a situation that worries many entrepreneurs and those involved in the production chain. For this reason, Michelle Meyer, chief economist at Bank of America, explained to CBS that Delta will cause an increase in the speed of spending on activities or a slowdown .
This will have to do, to a large extent, with the fact that if new Government sanitary restrictions or mandatory use of face masks are established, consumers will have to go out to carry out all kinds of activities under their own criteria of how comfortable they feel when going out and exposing themselves in closed places where they will be close to many people.
Bank of America analysts over the months are analyzing the national economic context based on the references that occurred during the year last in the pandemic as a guide to how consumers will respond to the persistent threat of the coronavirus and its new variant. Until now there has not been a generalized panic and economic activity has not stopped, but the fear is there.
According to official figures, before the appearance of Delta, between February and May, the number of Covid cases – 19 increased in Michigan compared to the rest of the country. The residents of Michigan set aside sanitary restrictions and the state government did not impose major restrictions, which turned people’s behavior around and put the transit decision in their hands.
Based on this example from Bank of America, with the arrival of Delta, many Americans will continue to go out and consume in various places, but if the cases of the virus increase there is a risk that consumers will gradually drift away of economic activities, which would be a catastrophe for the entertainment, hospitality and retail sectors.
If so, probably, according to Bank of America, consumers could also become reluctant to take air travel, so they could choose to only make transfers to destinations that can be reached by car instead of trips across the country or to places abroad, which would be a very serious blow hard for all s ector tourism .
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