The Poynter Institute Menu Donate State Editions * California * Florida * Iowa * Michigan * New Hampshire * New York * North Carolina * Pennsylvania * Texas * West Virginia * Wisconsin Issues * All Issues * Online hoaxes * Coronavirus * Health Care * Immigration * Extremism * Taxes * Marijuana * Environment * Crime * Guns * Foreign Policy * LGBTQ+ People * Joe Biden * Kamala Harris * Donald Trump * Mitch McConnell * Hakeem Jeffries * Ron DeSantis Media * PunditFact * Tucker Carlson * Sean Hannity * Rachel Maddow * Bloggers * PolitiFact Videos Campaigns * 2024 Elections Truth-o-Meter * True * Mostly True * Half True * Mostly False * False * Pants on Fire Promises * Biden Promise Tracker * Trump-O-Meter * Obameter * Latest Promises About Us * Our Process * Our Staff * En Español * Who pays for PolitiFact? * Advertise with Us * Suggest a Fact-check * Corrections and Updates * Newsletters Donate #### Follow us The Facts Newsletter Sign up English Español ### Get PolitiFact in your inbox. * Weekly Email Newsletter * Daily Email Newsletter Your Email Address Sign Up ![](\\" ![](\\" Joe Biden stated on July 22, 2020 in a campaign video: There’s already 10,000 businesses that are not likely to open again, and a significant number of small businesses and minority businesses.” ![\\"true\\"](\\" mostly-true/4ac7c61540eff5211f6a04d98a6bc93a.jpg.\\") ![\\"mostly- true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") * Small Business * Joe Biden ![\\"In](\\" In a April 30, 2020 file photo, a man walks by a closed store during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chicago. (AP) ![\\"Samantha](\\" By Samantha Putterman July 24, 2020 # Fact-checking Biden’s comments on COVID-19 small business closures #### If Your Time is short * Researchers have projected that at least 100,000 small businesses that closed during the COVID-19 pandemic won’t reopen. * Biden’s campaign says he intended to say 100,000, not 10,000. * Research indicates that Black and minority-owned businesses have been disproportionately affected by the health crisis. See the sources for this fact-check Arriving in face masks and sitting far apart from each other, Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama sat down for their first in-person meeting since the COVID-19 outbreak. A 15-minute video released by Biden’s presidential campaign shows the two men venting about the current handling of the pandemic and reliving their accomplishments over eight years in the White House. They talked about health care access, the summer’s protests against racial inequality and police brutality, and the pandemic’s effect on American businesses. \"There’s already 10,000 businesses that are not likely to open again,\" Biden said, \"and a significant number of small businesses and minority businesses.\" The shuttering of 10,000 businesses over a few months is bleak enough. But Biden actually underestimated the pandemic’s toll — by a lot. The Biden campaign told PolitiFact that Biden intended to say 100,000 small businesses were lost, not 10,000. That tracks with a study by researchers at Harvard, the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago, which estimated that over 100,000 small businesses permanently shut down between early March and early May. The data does indicate that Black- and minority-owned businesses have suffered at significant rates. The data so far Economists told us it’s difficult to gauge which businesses closed for good, especially in the middle of an unyielding pandemic. \"Temporary closure and permanent closure are very different,\" said Tara Sinclair, an associate professor in economics and international affairs at George Washington University, \"and identifying the excess businesses that close due to COVID-19 can be tricky, particularly when focused on small businesses, because small businesses, especially young small businesses, frequently close.\" Only about two-thirds of businesses with employees survive at least two years, and only about half survive at least five years, according to the Small Business Administration. And that’s without a pandemic. Bryan Stuart, an assistant professor of economics at George Washington University, said that while the 10,000 figure is likely a sizable underestimate, \"measuring closures, even without attempting to distinguish between whether they are permanent or temporary, is difficult.\" #### Featured Fact-check ![](\\" ![](\\" Kay Bailey Hutchison stated on January 14, 2010 in in a Republican gubernatorial debate \"The largest tax increase that we have ever had in our state is yours – it is the business margins tax that you signed, governor.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" false/33efdb6633e5e2fdc2d4e2f63383a1e0.jpg.\\") ![\\"false\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") By Meghan Ashford-Grooms • January 22, 2010 The research study that estimated 100,000 lost businesses was based on data collected from weekly surveys by Alignable, a network for small business owners. \"These surveys are valuable because they can be very timely, but an important limitation is that the survey frames, and the businesses within those frames that respond to surveys are usually not representative of all types of business across the U.S.,\" Stuart said. Another estimate of closure announcements comes from Yelp, an advertising platform for local businesses. Yelp found that about 132,500 businesses closed between March 1 and July 10. Of those, Yelp says nearly 72,850 are believed to be permanent closures. One caveat with Yelp’s data is that it is not representative of all employers or all small businesses, Stuart said. How COVID-19 has affected Black- and minority-owned businesses The number of Black business owners plummeted from 1.1 million in February 2020 to 640,000 in April, according to a June 2020 report published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. \"The loss of 440,000 black business owners representing 41% of the previous level is disconcerting,\" wrote study author Robert W. Fairlie, an economics professor at the University of California Santa Cruz. The report, which was based on Census data, found that the shutdown disproportionately affected Black Americans, but also hit other minority businesses hard: Latino business owners fell by 32%, and Asian business owners dropped by 26%. The long-term effect could be problematic on several fronts, Fairlie wrote, worsening wealth inequality and the availability of local jobs. Stuart also referenced the NBER report, and said that among those who are self-employed, minorities have lost more work. The data indicates that COVID-19 is affecting a significant number of minority-owned businesses, he said, but doesn’t tell us whether business closures are permanent or temporary. Our ruling Biden said 10,000 businesses likely won’t reopen due to COVID-19, and that the health crisis is significantly affecting small and minority-owned businesses. That’s true, although the problem is substantially worse than he described. Biden’s campaign said he intended to say 100,000 businesses, a figure that lines up with recent research. Biden is right that Black and minority-owned small businesses have been disproportionately affected by the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic, according to census data research. Biden’s claim is accurate — 10,000 businesses are certainly unlikely to reopen — but the caveat is a lot more businesses will also likely close. We rate this claim Mostly True. #### Read About Our Process The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter ### Our Sources Medium.com, My Socially Distanced Conversation With President Obama, July 22, 2020 Washington Post, Small business used to define America’s economy. The pandemic could change that forever., May 12, 2020 National Bureau of Economic Research, HOW ARE SMALL BUSINESSES ADJUSTING TO COVID-19?, April 2020 New York Times, ‘I Can’t Keep Doing This:’ Small-Business Owners Are Giving Up, July 13, 2020 Small Business Administration, Small Business Facts, June 2012 Yelp, Yelp: Local Economic Impact Report, June 15, 2020 Yelp, Increased Consumer Interest in May Correlates with COVID-19 Hot Spots in June, According to the Yelp Economic Average, July 2020 Vox, Study: Covid-19 lockdowns hit black-owned small businesses the hardest, June 10, 2020 National Bureau of Economic Research, THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS: EVIDENCE OF EARLY-STAGE LOSSES FROM THE APRIL 2020 CURRENT POPULATION SURVEY, June 2020 Email interview, Bryan Stuart assistant professor of economics at George Washington University, July 24, 2020 Email interview, Tara Sinclair associate professor of economics and international affairs at George Washington University, July 23, 2020 Email interview, Michael Gwin spokesperson for Joe Biden campaign, July 23-24, 2020 ## Browse the Truth-O-Meter ### More by Samantha Putterman ![](\\" black/4590875651af69b2c789ceab409664dd.jpg\\") ![](\\" black/72988380e8c8bd188dc360d11552e4a0.jpg\\") X posts stated on July 13, 2024 in una publicación en X: Donald Trump escenificó el tiroteo en su mitin en Butler, Pensilvania. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Marta Campabadal Graus • July 15, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Social Media stated on July 13, 2024 in social media posts: Donald Trump staged the shooting at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Samantha Putterman • July 14, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Kamala Harris stated on July 6, 2024 in a moderated conversation: Black women in the U.S. are “three to four times more likely to die in connection with childbirth than other women.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" By Samantha Putterman • July 11, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Yes on 4 stated on September 10, 2024 in a TV ad: Florida’s six-week abortion law has “no real exceptions. Not for her health. Not even for rape.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Samantha Putterman • September 13, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Kamala Harris stated on August 28, 2024 in an ad: Project 2025 would defund K-12 schools. ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Samantha Putterman • September 6, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Elizabeth Warren stated on August 25, 2024 in an interview: “JD Vance actually sent a letter last year to the Department of Justice saying, ‘enforce the Comstock Act.’” ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" By Samantha Putterman • August 30, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Ron DeSantis stated on August 28, 2024 in a press conference: The proposal to put golf courses, hotels in Florida state parks “was something that was leaked. … a lot of that stuff was half-baked and was not ready for prime time.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Samantha Putterman • August 29, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Rick Scott stated on August 28, 2024 in a post on X: “This month alone, more than 16,000 non-citizens have been removed from the voter rolls in 3 states.” ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Samantha Putterman • August 29, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Debbie Mucarsel-Powell stated on August 7, 2024 in un anuncio de radio de campaña: El senador Rick Scott no apoya las excepciones al aborto. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Marta Campabadal Graus • August 16, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Debbie Mucarsel-Powell stated on August 7, 2024 in an ad: Sen. Rick Scott does not support abortion exceptions. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Marta Campabadal Graus • August 14, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on August 8, 2024 in a press conference: Says his Jan. 6, 2021, speech on the White House Ellipse drew the “same number of people,” as the 1963 March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Louis Jacobson • August 9, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Ron DeSantis stated on August 6, 2024 in an X post: “In 2021, Minnesotans were roughly five times more likely to move to Florida than vice versa” because they were “fleeing” the state under Democratic Gov. Tim Walz. ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Samantha Putterman • August 8, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Donald Trump stated on July 31, 2024 in an NABJ conference appearance: Kamala Harris was “Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden, she made a turn and she went, she became a Black person.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Samantha Putterman • July 31, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" JD Vance stated on July 28, 2024 in an interview: Vice President Kamala Harris is “calling for an end to the child tax credit.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Samantha Putterman • July 30, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Kamala Harris stated on July 18, 2024 in a campaign event: Project 2025 calls for restricting “access to IVF and contraception.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Samantha Putterman • July 24, 2024 ![](\\" black/4590875651af69b2c789ceab409664dd.jpg\\") ![](\\" black/72988380e8c8bd188dc360d11552e4a0.jpg\\") X posts stated on July 13, 2024 in una publicación en X: Donald Trump escenificó el tiroteo en su mitin en Butler, Pensilvania. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Marta Campabadal Graus • July 15, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Social Media stated on July 13, 2024 in social media posts: Donald Trump staged the shooting at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Samantha Putterman • July 14, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Kamala Harris stated on July 6, 2024 in a moderated conversation: Black women in the U.S. are “three to four times more likely to die in connection with childbirth than other women.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" By Samantha Putterman • July 11, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Yes on 4 stated on September 10, 2024 in a TV ad: Florida’s six-week abortion law has “no real exceptions. Not for her health. Not even for rape.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Samantha Putterman • September 13, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Kamala Harris stated on August 28, 2024 in an ad: Project 2025 would defund K-12 schools. ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Samantha Putterman • September 6, 2024 ![](\\" ![](\\" Elizabeth Warren stated on August 25, 2024 in an interview: “JD Vance actually sent a letter last year to the Department of Justice saying, ‘enforce the Comstock Act.’” ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" By Samantha Putterman • August 30, 2024 ### Fact-checking Biden’s comments on COVID-19 small business closures * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 12, 2024 in an Instagram post: A video shows a body that Israel embedded with a bomb exploding during a Palestinian funeral procession. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Sofia Ahmed • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 11, 2024 in a post: “ESPN has fired Shannon Sharpe.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Gideon Hess • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Threads posts stated on September 12, 2024 in a post on Threads: An image shows Travis Kelce responding to Elon Musk X post that followed Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Madison Czopek • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 12, 2024 in an Instagram post: Former President Donald Trump admitted during the Sept. 10 presidential debate that he “blew up the Nord Stream pipeline.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Loreben Tuquero • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 10, 2024 in a Facebook post: Patron, Don Julio and Pink Whitney tequila recalled because they contained fecal matter. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Jeff Cercone • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Elissa Slotkin stated on September 11, 2024 in a TV ad: Mike Rogers supported “laws that could eliminate IVF and birth control.” ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Caleb McCullough • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 11, 2024 in an Instagram post: \"Debate moderators made the false claim to Donald Trump that there is nowhere in the United States where abortion is legal up until birth.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Jeff Cercone • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 12, 2024 in a Facebook post: ABC News fired presidential debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Sofia Ahmed • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Yes on 4 stated on September 10, 2024 in a TV ad: Florida’s six-week abortion law has “no real exceptions. Not for her health. Not even for rape.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Samantha Putterman • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 11, 2024 in una publicación en Facebook: Imagen muestra carnet del Partido Comunista de la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Maria Briceño • September 13, 2024 Load more ### Support independent fact-checking. Become a member! In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts. 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There’s already 10000 businesses that are not likely to open again and a significant number of small businesses and minority businesses