72,842

Perhaps the biggest question about the new world will be:  What will the economy look like?  The answer right now?  No idea.

We've been playing around with possibilities, such as this and that, but there aren't any guideposts or signs or peeks over the horizon.  We can look at what is the case right now, and say, "Hmm... "

Yelp is an app that rates restaurants and other businesses.  It's the most frequently-referred-to app of its kind, but it is, apparently, also a vast storehouse of basic data on businesses.

Yelp says that, at the end of the second quarter of 2020, the number of businesses that were closed in the US had decreased, from 177,000 in April to 132,500 in early July.  Good news!  However, of those businesses closed in July, more than half - 72,842 - were closed permanently:  they had indicated to Yelp's data collectors that they were not planning to open again.  Ever.

72,842 businesses that existed in February, gone in July, forever.  And that's just July.  As the American pandemic doldrums drag on, more and more businesses will have to let go, and give up.  Which means that the 'recovery' (which is not, at this point, even a twinkle in Chris Columbus's eye) when it begins, will have to do without them.  72,842 businesses that will not be re-opening their doors, ordering supplies and materials, hiring or rehiring staff, and welcoming customers back at long last.  We'll start more than 72,842 businesses behind.

,That's gonna leave a mark on the new world.