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Empty Days, Shrinking Bank Account: Iowa Stylist Weathers Lockdown

Marissa Melton

   Editor's Note: This is one in a series of profiles of Americans
   struggling with the economic impact caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

   Joyce Rydstrom of Alta, Iowa, had to shut the doors to her hair salon
   last month when the governor ordered a suspension of nonessential
   businesses to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

   Meanwhile, the meatpacking industry, a major driver of the Iowa
   economy, has suffered repeated blows as virus outbreaks have caused
   processing plants that usually operate around the clock to shut down
   for days at a time. The economy, both personal and statewide, seems
   anything but stable these days.

   Rydstrom has done hair for 36 years. She used to see 10 to 12 clients a
   day. Now, she joked, "I'm just seeing days." While her husband, Dave,
   is able to continue growing his crops of corn, soybeans, hay and oats,
   she has been home with time on her hands. This week she planted her
   first vegetable garden.

   "Normally when I'm at the salon, I come home after a whole day and I'm
   pooped. I don't want to go out and garden," she said. But now, she
   added, "because I'm home, I thought, 'Let's just go for it.'"

   On Thursday the U.S. Department of Labor said that last week 4.4
   million people filed initial unemployment claims. The New York Times
   reports nearly one in six American workers has lost a job recently.
   Over the past five weeks, a total of 26 million people have filed new
   unemployment claims.

   In many ways, Rydstrom and her family are lucky. Her husband has been
   able to work on his farm despite the shutdown. Her son's and daughter's
   families, with four kids each, live nearby. They still have income and
   have received their government stimulus checks. Her parents, who live
   in a neighboring county, are in good health.

   For their community, however, much depends on the continued operation
   of the Tyson Foods pork-processing plant in the county seat, Storm
   Lake. The pork industry has suffered twin blows: with restaurants
   closed, there's a surplus of pork on the market, depressing the price;
   and pork processing plants have seen one closure after another after
   viral outbreaks among employees. The latest was Wednesday: a Tyson
   Foods plant in the city of Waterloo, about 250 kilometers east of Alta.

   Local news reports say some hog farmers are killing their pigs because
   they have nowhere to sell them and no room to keep them.

   Rydstrom worries about what will happen if the Tyson plant in Storm
   Lake -- a hog slaughterhouse, meat packing plant and turkey processing
   plant -- has to close.

   If it shuts down, she said, "that would devastate the majority of Buena
   Vista County." She said a friend who works at the plant says employees
   are being "above and beyond cautious" to keep themselves safe and
   healthy.

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