This fall, like many small-business owners around the country, Bob Szuter, had a coronavirus problem. One of the employees at the restaurant and brewing company he owns in Columbus, Ohio, tested positive for COVID-19.

Normally, one sick worker is not a big deal. Szuter, who co-founded Wolfs Ridge Brewing with his father seven years ago, gives everyone paid time off every year. But this is a pandemic. That one worker had come into contact with nine other employees. Altogether, that was more than 20% of his staff.

Normally, if someone had to take two weeks off to deal with something, we wouldve taken care of them, he told HuffPost. But weve been stretched so thin, its hard to do that at this point.