The COVID-19 lockdown was devastating for local businesses, and Eliza DeRocker says she is still feeling the consequences.

“A lot of my employees who really didn’t need the money and some who did, they just didn’t show up to work,” says Eliza DeRocker, owner of The Saratoga Closet and Bride and Gown.

After reopening, DeRocker knew she needed another stream of income in case there was another lockdown.

“To save my business, I opened a new store in Charleston, South Carolina,” she said.

With COVID numbers on the rise and Saratoga County hitting the CDC threshold for recommending masks indoors again, DeRocker says another lockdown would really hurt local businesses.

The county on Friday reported 186 new positive cases in the last week, and a seven-day average positivity rate of 4.5%, a transmission level rated by the CDC as “substantial."  

“Another lockdown is going to be devastating for all of us, and I do think we can avoid it if we put our masks back on,” DeRocker said.

With federal and state recommendations changing and COVID transmissions on the rise, Saratoga County created the SHARP task force and launched a dashboard designed to keep residents informed with the most recent information.

“I think it's really important to allow people to see what the numbers are in real time, and I think, to see just how affective the vaccine is,” says Jonathan Schopf, Clifton Park county supervisor and member of the SHARP task force.

Schopf says he doesn’t see the county implementing a mask mandate, but the task force is open to community feedback.

“We want to be here as a resource. I think that’s another important feature of the task force, feedback from businesses on how we can help them, how we can help them stay open. If, for instance, they want someone from the Department of Health to come down and look at their facility and give them suggestions and guidance, we are happy to do that,” Schopf said.

To find up-to-date COVID information, from the task force visit their website.