Second round of COVID shutdowns has NYC businesses fearing the worst

NEW YORK - Nine months into the coronavirus pandemic and most New York City small businesses are just getting by.

"It's surviving week by week," said Julian Gaxholli, who owns three restaurants on Staten Island.

Now, with a second round of shutdowns looming as COVID-19 cases climb in the city, just surviving will be a challenge.

"It's very much like breaking a leg all over again in the same spot, and it hurts just thinking about it," Gaxholli said.

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Gaxholli made it through the initial shutdown filling orders for hospital and frontline workers through a partnership with Verizon. Business was slowly starting to recover with outdoor and limited indoor dining service.

Then came the latest state restrictions cutting off food service at 10 p.m. A shut down of all indoor dining if the city moves into an orange zone as temperatures plummet could be disastrous.

"I'm worried about my staff, I'm worried about my community as well," he said.

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The feeling is mutual at Momentum Fitness on the Upper West Side. Owner Marco Guanilo was just able to reopen his gym for personal training in September, and still can't hold group fitness classes.

"We were already kind of recovering from the first [shutdown] so to throw this at us again is going to put us under," Guanilo said.

Guanilo said that all of the gym clients work out by appointment, the gym is frequently disinfected, and Momentum hasn't had a single Covid case since reopening

He made a plea to Mayor De Blasio and Governor Cuomo: "Give us a break, we are a small business, we're barely staying afloat, you can't just shut us down with no guidance."