BERKSHIRE COUNTY - With many small businesses closed for at least another month, a lot of business owners will have to rely on funds from the newly passed CARES Act to keep the lights on.

Ben Lamb, Director of Economic Development at 1Berkshire, said, “This is an aid and relief package, this is not a stimulus package. This is meant to be, right now, plugging as many holes as possible with as many tools as they can pull out.”

The CARES Act establishes two types of loans: An Economic Injury Disaster Loan (E.I.D.L), and the Paycheck Protection Program (P.P.P).

Each program can be used to cover certain operating costs. However, as Lamb explains, both loans can't be used to pay for the same things.

Lamb said, "There is a no redundancy rule that are built into these loans. Meaning you cannot take out multiple types of loans from these programs. So if you take out a PPP, you may not be able to take out an EIDL.”

Businesses with less than 500 employees, including independent contractors and people who are self-employed, are eligible for the programs.

While applications are technically open, Lamb says, because the programs are brand new, so it could take some time for local lenders to get on board.

“You might go a bank right now and ask to participate in one of these programs, and they may not be able to give you the full application to fill out because they haven’t been given all the tools that they need yet," Lamb said. 

Lamb says hundreds, if not thousands, of small businesses in the Berkshires are impacted by the coronavirus shutdown and the extent of the damage to the local economy is still uncertain.

Lamb said, “It’s anybody’s guess in a lot of ways. We know it’s going to be a significant impact, and we know that there’s going to be a lot of need for pivot and adjustment and a level of building new agility and resiliency.”