We have already seen one iconic New Orleans restaurant -- K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen -- go out of business permanently because of the coronavirus. But plenty of other business, not just restaurants, are on the brink of extinction as well.
New Orleans economist Wade Ragas says the loss of K-Paul's may be just the first.
"Luxury restaurants are not the dominant issue here," Ragas said. "It's broad-scale retail."
Ragas says the economy needs two things -- schools to get back in session, freeing up single parents and two-income households to return to work, and a continuation of enhanced unemployment benefits for those who can't return to work -- or more businesses are going to close.
"We've got a lot of individual hurdles to get over right now," Ragas warned. He said help more help from Washington for businesses is also necessary.
"You can do some things on a local level, and you can do things to help stabilize and save some jobs, but fundamentally, these are enormous sums of money, and the only one who can do that is someone who can print the money," he said.
