One of the biggest effects of the spread of COVID-19 is the rise in unemployment. Business are cutting people’s hours and often letting employees go to cut down on the risk factor of spreading the coronavirus.

“I work at Cabell Huntington Hospital and I’m scared that they are going to eventually fire me,” said Denise Edwards, a nurse’s assistant at the hospital. “They have already cut my hours down, and I know it’s just a matter of time be for they let me go. It doesn’t help that I’m new on the job, so I’ll be the first to go sadly.”

With restaurants closing, others such as Susan Johnson, a waitress and a single mother of three kids who lives in Huntington, are trying to figure out how to pay their bills.

“I’m a mother of three and I’m those kids only provider. I’m a waitress full time but now that they are shutting down all the restaurants, I have no way to bring home any money,” Johnson said. “I already don’t make that much as it is, and me being a single parent, it’s going to be hard to find some money to provide while I’m out of work.”

Randy Jones, a senior at Marshall University, said he is concerned about paying tuition.

“Now that schools out, I can’t try to get a job in the meantime because all businesses are closed,” Jones said. “I can’t even pay for my tuition now because I have no way to make money to pay for it.”

With businesses shut down across the state, the unemployment office has had an increase of applications for unemployment, many from families who need help because of the coronavirus.

Taevion Kinsey can be contacted at [email protected].