The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says Manitoba business owners are feeling the pandemic burnout and the second wave of COVID-19 continues to move through the country.

Business owners are feeling the pressure from a sharp decline in sales in the early part of the holiday shopping season and they're working longer hours, according to Jonathan Alward, the CFIB’s prairie region director.

"I think we're seeing a lot of mental health concerns rising along with this situation, which is something you would expect. We've been fielding calls from business owners who are at their wit's end, so it's a concern for many people and hopefully we can through this as quickly as possible."

The latest survey by the CFIB indicates it has been a weak start to the holiday shopping season here in Manitoba. The survey shows 48 per cent of businesses are fully open, 35 per cent are fully staffed and only 24 per cent are experiencing normal sales so far.

The Manitoba government has said it will review its Code Red restrictions on December 11 and determine if it will keep its partial shutdown in place.

Alward feels the Manitoba government could still allow small businesses to operate by having them implement certain measures to increase safety in stores.

"By getting customers spread out, smaller businesses would have better control over the flow of their store and keep their customers and staff as safe as possible. Hopefully, we can do that by December 11 and maybe salvage some of the holiday season."

Alward says the CFIB will be coming out with another survey that will show how many of its member businesses in Manitoba are considering bankruptcy at this point. He says they are still crunching the data, but the preliminary numbers are very concerning.