Since the end of the first quarter of 2020, bankruptcy professionals have been planning for a substantial increase in business bankruptcies. The newest statistics tell us that the wait is over. These bankruptcy filings follow the sustained economic contraction rooted in the COVID pandemic. But it would be too simplistic to say that COVID is the sole cause of this trend.  Most of the businesses that have filed faced other challenges, such as heavy debt burdens, deteriorating markets or strategic missteps. COVID induced contraction became the problem, which convinced management or creditors that restructuring could not be deferred.