Disaster Assistance Loans

• The U.S. Small Business Administration is offering low-interest federal disaster loans for working capital to small businesses suffering substantial economic injury. These loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that can’t be paid because of the disaster’s impact. The interest rate is 3.75% for small businesses and 2.75% for non-profits. More information can be found by clicking here. You can apply for a loan with the Small Business Administration by clicking here.
  
  To receive assistance, please call the Small Business Association at 1-800-659-2955 or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.

Health/Safety

The CDC has released interim guidance in preventing workplace exposures of COVID-19 in non-health care settings. This guidance can be accessed by clicking here. Osha, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has also released interim guidance in preventing workplace exposures of COVID-19. This guidance can be accessed by clicking here.

Cleaning & Disinfection

Current evidence suggests that coronavirus may remain viable for hours to days on surfaces made from a variety of materials. Cleaning of visibly dirty surfaces followed by disinfection is a best practice measure for prevention of COVID-19 and other viral respiratory illnesses in community settings. For more information, please click here.

Collaboration Tools

Below is a list of tools to maintian collaboration and work remotely from home.

• Cisco Webex
• Google Drive
• Google Hangouts Meet
• Hypersay
• Microsoft Teams
• Slack
• Zoho Remotely
• Zoom

Tax Assistance

Small businesses scheduled to make their monthly sales, use and withholding tax payments on March 20 can postpone filing and payment requirements until April 20. The state Treasury Department will waive all penalties and interest for 30 days. Specific information about Treasury providing tax assistance to small businesses due to COVID-19 can be found in SUW Penalty and Interest Waiver Notice. To receive assistance, please call the Treasury Business Tax Call Center at 517-636-6925.

Toolkits

• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has assembled a toolkit with shareable graphics based on the CDC's latest guidelines sorround coronavirus. Click here to access it.
  
• The Michigan Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has developed a Resource Guide: Supporting Your Small Business During COVID-19. Click here to access it.

Professional Development

Click here to see a list of free online business courses from top universities around the world. LinkedIn Learning Learning Path - Remote Working: Setting Yourself and Your Teams Up for Success

Employee Resources

Unemployment Benefits (Michigan)
Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed Executive Order 2020-10 to temporarily expand eligibility for unemployment benefits. This executive order is effective immediately and until Tuesday, April 14 2020 at 11:59 p.m. Unemployment benefits would be extended to:
-Workers who have an unanticipated family care responsibility, including those who have childcare responsibilities due to school closures, or those who are forced to care for loved ones who become ill.
-Workers who are sick, quarantined, or immunocompromised and who do not have access to paid family and medical leave or are laid off.
-First responders in the public health community who become ill or are quarantined due to exposure to COVID-19. ​ Access a guide to file for unemployment benefits here.

EXECUTIVE STAY-AT-HOME ORDER FOR MICHIGAN - FAQ

On 3/23/2020, Michigan issued a stay at home order amid Covid-19. Effective at 12:01 am on Tuesday, March 24, 2020, for at least the next three weeks, individuals may only leave their home or place of residence under very limited circumstances.

What the Executive Order means
Executive Order 2020-21 prohibits all businesses and operations from requiring workers to leave their homes, unless those workers are necessary to sustain or protect life or to conduct minimum basic operations.
Businesses and operations are to designate the workers that meet those criteria, and must adopt social distancing practices and other mitigation measures to protect workers and patrons in the performance of that necessary in-person work.
Essential workers can leave home Workers that are necessary to sustain or protect life include those in health care and public health, law enforcement and public safety, grocery store workers, and more. Restaurants can continue with carry out and delivery services.

For purposes of this order, critical infrastructure workers are those workers described by the Director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in his guidance of March 19, 2020 on the COVID-19 response. You can view that information here.

Other Links

Michigan COVID-19 Business Response Center Navigating a Global Criss on Social Media