With recent devastation involving the COVID-19, other tragedies have been disregarded. On March 18, a 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck Salt Lake City, Utah. This earthquake has caused many factories and airports to shut down, along with 73,000 people without power immediately following the disaster. 

With the power shutting down and damaged buildings, many would think businesses would be affected negatively. Most of the damages were ignored because of the lack of importance compared to the coronavirus. John Elwood, a co-owner of Elwood Staffing, had many locations in Utah that were overlooked. 

“Back in 2019, this earthquake would have caused a lot of commotion. I would probably receive a significant amount of phone calls about what our business needs to do to overcome this disaster,” Elwood said. “Instead, I have only received one phone call about the earthquake.”

With the coronavirus shocking the nation, an earthquake is the least of the U.S. citizens’ concerns. There has been little to almost no coverage on news outlets because of the epidemic. 

It is not only the earthquake that people are ignoring, there have been other events all across the world that most Americans do not realize are happening. 

“One of my locations actually had a fire this week, and I barely knew about it,” Elwood said. “If this was any other time, my full focus would be on that fire, but I do not have time for that right now.”

Panic has set in for most Americans and the recent earthquake did not make things any better. With so much devastation, businesses are hoping for prosperity in the near future.