The president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Thursday employers could face "a second economic risk" by reopening their businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, Axios reported.
At a virtual event, Suzanne Clark, who leads the world's largest business federation, said small businesses are not only anxious to reopen, but also anxious about reopening, particularly regarding litigation risks, Axios reported.
"For example, we're asking CEOs to operate in a totally different, unprecedented time," she told the news outlet. "After years of saying don't discriminate on the basis of health and age, now we're saying protect your vulnerable populations."
"When we usually say keep health data private, now we're saying you want to make some things public so that we can trace people who have this virus or understand who has immunity," she continued.
"So when you have a whole new playbook, there are unfortunately a small number of the plaintiffs' bar who really go hard and look for liability. . . . And so it scares business owners that there could be a second big economic risk coming."
Governors nationwide are mulling how and when to open non-essential businesses, the news outlet noted – but lifting restrictions are bringing non-essential workers back out of their homes and increasing their exposure to the coronavirus.
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