WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd May, 2020) New York State has started a more than $100 million emergency loan fund to help small businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, Governor Andrew Cuomo told a press conference on Friday.
"Ninety percent of New York (State) businesses are small businesses. They need help," Cuomo said. "Today we are launching the more than $100 million New York Forward Loan Fund."
The new fund would focus on minority and women-owned businesses and those with 20 or fewer employees, Cuomo said.
"The numbers are frightening, Small businesses [employ] 90 percent of New York workers and more than 100,000 have shut permanently since the pandemic hit," he said
Cuomo said hospitalizations and the number of new cases in New York State were down but the death rate was not falling significantly and 109 more people died on Thursday. New York state has 357,451 cases of COVID-19 and 28,609 deaths so far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday.
