EDMONTON -- "As soon as this coronavirus thing came out, business dropped off like a rock," says Lynn Hill, manager at Edmonton's Mister Frame.

The owner of a St. Albert hockey store agrees.

"We went from being busy to zero," Stick Flix's Ron Young told CTV News Edmonton.

"Your first thing is: How are we going to pay our bills? How are we going to pay our rent?"

The service industry is no different. Many businesses offering hair cuts or massage therapy say they can't operate while practicing social distancing.

On Wednesday, the federal and Alberta governments announced fiscal measures to help people through COVID-19. Canada is preparing an $82-billion package in direct aid and tax deferrals. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said his government arranged for utility customers, including small commercial customers, to be able to defer on their payments, and for ATB Financial customers to apply for deferrals on their loans, lines of credit and mortgages.

"The bottom line for Albertans who are feeling anxious right now is that they need to know there is relief," Kenney said, adding more announcements would be made in the future, including details on the "likely most robust counter-cyclical stimulus package in the fiscal history of this province."

Lindsay Tedds, scientific director of fiscal and economic policy at the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy, said the government should have been introducing fiscal measures as health measures were put in place – such as enabling parents to work from home when daycares and schools closed.

Then, Tedds said, it's about managing the symptoms of a recession.

"We're not talking about doing that so that people go out to restaurants. We're not talking about stimulating demand.

"We're about trying to make sure that the infrastructure of our economy – people, places and things – stays sort've frozen in time so that in three or four months when we start lifting the restrictions, it can slowly start going back to normal. And that's when we can start slowly stimulating demand again."

According to the associate professor, Alberta can't prevent an economic freefall, but it can soften it.

"Jason Kenney and the UCP need to get ahead of this and get ahead of this now," Tedds said.

"(The government) needs to make sure people are supported now for the months of social distancing and isolation that are ahead of us."

Alberta is also offering an emergency isolation support package starting next week to people who are in isolation or caring for a dependent in isolation, and asking municipalities to offer similar deferrals for water service.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Dan Grummett