This one, from the
New York Times, is out of
Bristol, New Hampshire, population 3,054. David Gelles reports under the headline, "This Is Going to Kill Small-Town America," about the economic destruction that preceded local health care impacts of the coronavirus pandemic:
By the end of March, with just a few local cases confirmed, gift shops, yoga studios and restaurants had all shut their doors. Hundreds lost jobs, contributing to a record surge in national unemployment claims.
But at least the Freudenberg factory was running at full strength. The factory, which employs 350 people and makes bonded piston seals and other components for carmakers around the world, has an outsize impact on Bristol’s economy.
Besides paying employees their salaries and the town taxes, the factory — part of a German industrial conglomerate — is the largest customer of Bristol’s sewage and water systems, a linchpin of the annual budget.
Nik Coates, the town administrator, said in an interview on April 2:
Freudenberg is our lifeblood. If that plant was ever to close or significantly reduce operations, that would put us in a world of hurt.
The next day, Freudenberg fired more than 100 workers and announced it is shutting down some of its Bristol operation. That makes another quote form Coates particularly poignant:
We’re not rich by any means. We’re pretty poor, in fact.
That said, the story Gelles tells is also one of the community rallying around its own.
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