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How can we stay connected when we are told to stay apart? How can local business owners expect to make a living when they are asked to lock their doors?

From the White House to City Hall, leaders across the country are asking citizens to comply with the Coronavirus Guidelines for America issued by President Trump. In states such as Louisiana, which has now has the fifth-highest number of cases in the country, leaders are ordering restaurants, bars, gyms and other businesses where people gather to close. 

The situation leaves employees wondering if they will have a job and business owners worried if they will be able to continue doing business.

Some businesses are looking for creative solutions that will help brunt the blow from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Local Regina Charboneau of Regina’s Kitchen and King’s Tavern has turned to providing a variety of soups and pot pies that customers can heat in their kitchen for a restaurant-quality meal in the seclusion on their homes. 

Fitness instructor Amanda Hudson of Pure Strength Studio in downtown Natchez is researching how to harness the power of social media to serve customers online.

In this age of social distancing, business owners such as Charboneau and Hudson are looking for creative ways to keep us together and keep their businesses together, as well.

Their efforts are to be applauded in these uncertain times.

Nobody knows when or how the current crisis will end, but one thing is clear — life as we know it will be changed.

Those who are looking for different ways to do business are likely planting the seeds for the future of business and everyday life.