VENICE, Fla. — Peter Hermann and his wife both depended on part-time jobs in retail to help pay their bills. Then came coronavirus.
“The rent was due today,” said Hermann, who worked at a local grocery store until health concerns caused he and his wife to leave due to health concerns related to their age and a higher risk of suffering life-threatening illnesses from COVID-19.
Without paychecks, the two were hopeful about the federal relief package intended to help American families. But when the Hermann’s went to apply through the state of Florida, he found the state's website wasn't working.
He's continued to try for the past two weeks straight with no success.
“At first it was rage,” Hermann said. “Then after a few days of rage, I crossed the bridge of acceptance and realized this isn't working at all.”
He's now resorted to waking up in the middle of the night trying to access the site when fewer people are online.
“I set my alarm, got up at 3:30 and went straight to the computer. I had a cup of coffee and started my work. It’s like a part-time job… more like a full-time job,” he said.
Overnight, he was finally able to start a claim filling out pages of information only to get error messages at the very end.
“Try to hit the submit button and it kicks you out, so it’s very, very frustrating,” he said.
The Hermann's realize they're not alone. Other families may be in even worse shape. He's now calling on the governor and other state leaders to step up and get the problems fixed, or at the very least communicate a plan for when relief might be on the way.
“It kind of makes you scared," Hermann said. "What's going to happen in two months, four months, six months down the road? At the pace the state is going, I don't have any faith we're going to have any answers before that time.”
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