From Inc. This Morning, --Cameron Albert-Deitch, reporter

For weeks, businesses nationwide have been getting ready to reopen: renegotiating rents, retrofitting shops and equipment, and rehiring employees.

But as Covid-19 continues its terrible march across the South and West, many states and municipalities have paused or reversed their reopening plans--leaving small businesses once again staring at crushing uncertainty. And while the health concerns are real and hard to argue with, businesses say the about-face on reopening guidance has been both jarring and potentially harmful to their long-term prospects.

That’s because the losses add up, from marketing dollars spent on advertising the reopenings to time and money spent training new employees (especially if those workers move on to other gigs). And if you work with perishable items--like restaurants, for example--your newly restocked inventory is probably heading to a local food bank or the garbage.

The situation is causing leaders across the country to rethink just about everything, from their business models to the very nature of their companies. Read our story to learn the questions business owners are asking--and the answers they’re finding--to help their companies survive.