Business Owners React to Continuing Cancellations

[bc_video video_id="6144214002001″ account_id="5728959025001″ player_id="Hkbio1usDM" embed="in-page" padding_top="56%" autoplay="" min_width="0px" max_width="640px" width="100%" height="100%"] As cancellations continue to pour in, including Village Fest, White Party, and others. NBC Palm Springs went downtown to speak to business owners and see how they are holding up with the ongoing changes. Village Fest, which usually attracts crowds to downtown Palms Springs has been called off. Officials say they are awaiting guidelines to see how they will move forward in the next couple of days. "Everyone’s revising their guidelines so once we have those we’re going to implement them and in the meantime, we are always going to air on the side of caution and public health for our residents and visitors," said Geoff Kors, Mayor of Palm Springs Local business owners say they are starting to feel the effects as foot traffic slows. "I’m very concerned because a lot of people aren’t shopping now, and everyone is just afraid to come out because they don’t want to catch the virus and it’s really putting kind of a dent on our business," said Gwen Gatti, owner of Tops n Tees. "We’ve noticed a big drop in business in the last two days and we’ve had to scale back on our staffing, sending people home early, cutting back our ordering for the food that we serve," explained Corey Saldana, owner of The Sandwich Spot. Saldana says he is taking proactive measures to keep his employees and customers safe. "We’re bleaching everything that we touch several times a day, and just making sure that the staff is aware and informed about what symptoms to look for should they fall ill." After announcements of Coachella and Stagecoach postponing, the mayor of Palms Springs says other events may follow suit. "I think events in the next couple weeks that are similar, there’s a good chance they’ll be canceled probably in march and likely in April," said Kors. "We’ll hopefully I’d like to stay open because you know, what are you going to do?" added Gatti. Below is are links to a coronavirus information sheet and hotline number set up by health officials. Coronavirus (COVID-19) What you need to know: https://www.rivcoph.org/coronavirus Hotline number: 760-TEST988 (or 760-837-8988)