Neeraj Kebede at Addissae Ethiopian Restaurant

Biz briefs: Buncombe continues to see high COVID-19 unemployme­nt, business closures

The county, North Carolina’s seventh-most populous, was fifth on the state’s list of counties by number of pandemic-related first-time unemployment insurance claimants in April. Of those claims, 21.7% were from workers in the leisure and hospitality industries, while 15.6% were from the trade, transportation and utilities sector.