When the Covid-19 virus was first brought to the United States, many thought it would be a false paranoia similar to that of Ebola. Not that Ebola wasn’t a big issue, but the consensus among many was that the paranoia for Ebola was overblown. So with Covid-19, many treated it similarly … at least initially.
One of those people was Pamela Howard.
Howard, a single mother of three, didn’t realize the magnitude Covid-19 would have on her life. Before Covid-19, Pamela was working at the Clorox corporation as an accountant all the while studying for her Certified Public Accountant license (CPA). In mid-2019, she had to quit her job due to personal reasons. She went back to work via the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Delta College. This job was only supposed to be temporary, for stability and flexibility.
Then the pandemic began.
Howard’s life was forever changed on March 13, 2020, when Gov. Gavin Newsom enacted a lockdown on the state. Already perplexed by the imminent lockdown, Howard assumed it was just the California government being extra safe. Just to make sure so commotion starts over the potential threat of Covid.
“I really had thought it was just going to blow over within the weak. Oh god, how wrong was I?” said Howard.
Once the second week rolled by with the lockdown still in full motion, Howard knew that this wasn’t going to blow over. The other crazy thing she had to grasp was her job. Being an assistant at the SBDC became infinitely more important, hectic, and busy due to the pandemic.
With the lockdown, many small businesses just couldn’t survive and were forced to close. Howard’s once plain and relatively easy occupation became much more involved due to Covid. The more business went down, the more calls she got for advice.
Howard is still working at the SBDC, happily helping small businesses get back on their feet.