City officials say pandemic’s full economic impact on El Paso won’t be known until next year

EL PASO, Texas -- There are about 50,000 operating businesses in El Paso. Of those, about 26 percent of them have closed due to the pandemic, but those numbers are considered rough estimates by the city's economic development department.

Director of Economic Development Jessica Herrera told ABC-7 they track the data through a website and said the margin of error on this data is too large.

"We don't have the data right now to tell you this is what it means for El Paso.," said Hererra. "I'm trying to rely on data sources that are credible that we know have done a thorough job."

Herrera said the city won't know what the impact will be until sometime next year.

"Businesses right now are all trying to shift, they're trying to pivot, some of them are just shutting down because they cant afford it anymore. All these different factors putting pressure on municipalities like the city of El Paso who are trying to track and figure out where we are," he explained.

Herrera credits El Paso's stable economy for not being in a worse situation and said that's what has helped the city offer support for businesses who are struggling.