Under the stewardship of disgraced Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the state of New York has led the nation in COVID-related small-business closures, according to newly-released data from Facebook.
The Big Tech giant’s first Global State of Small Business Report surveyed more than 35,000 small businesses impacted by the pandemic across 27 nations.
The report said New York was tied with neighboring Pennsylvania—led by Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf—for the highest rate of permanently shuttered businesses, due to both states’ excessive lockdown orders during the pandemic.
New York and Pennsylvania both stood at a 31% closure rate. Their combined totals comprised roughly a third of the business closings throughout all 50 US states over the past year.
Despite its draconian quarantine demands, New York also sits atop the US rankings of total COVID mortalities, many of them resulting from Cuomo’s controversial decision to force healthy and infected nursing-home patients to co-mingle.
But pandemic-related politics aside, Facebook noted that the virus had spurred small-business closings nationwide, with the overall rate rising 14% higher than the previous year.
Maine and Idaho held the lowest closure rates at 9% each. Colorado ranked third-lowest at 10%.
Businesses that managed to weather the brunt of the COVID onslaught now see little prospect of relief as the Biden administration moves forward on promises to repeal Trump-era tax cuts and raise the rate in upper-income tax brackets by more than 2%.
That disproportionately will affect independent business-owners who earn more than $500,000 per year, even as inflation rates and overhead expenses continue to rise.
Inexplicably, Facebook’s data indicated that firms led by women were harder hit than those run by men during the pandemic. Women-led businesses averaged a 6% higher closure rate worldwide.
Minority-led businesses also reportedly struggled more than the national average. Facebook’s survey noted minority-led firms were more likely to close by a similar margin of 6%.
“While the roll-out of vaccines and the easing of lockdowns in many countries are reasons to be hopeful, our latest Global State of Small Business Report is a timely reminder that many are still vulnerable and in need of support,” Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in a statement.
“And those feeling the impact of the pandemic the most are female and minority-owned businesses—a further reminder that whenever crises hit, it’s the most vulnerable who are always hit the hardest,” she added.
Many in the leftist media, including social-media publishers like Facebook, have continued to feed the baseless narrative that the pandemic exacerbated existing disparities caused by ‘systemic’ racism and misogyny.
However, no scientific evidence supports activists’ claims linking the global health crisis with the need for a broader social-justice agenda.
The report did highlight at least one positive development: an increase in online business success.
“More than half of those surveyed said they used digital tools to communicate with customers, and those reporting higher shares of digital sales were also more likely to have reported more robust sales overall,” it said.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this article.
