NEWS & OPINION FEATURE JUST A PHASE Small businesses proceed with caution as county reopens
Pg. 4 MAY 20 - JUNE 2, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM
BY PAT MORAN
If there’s one essential message that came out of the virtual May 11 meeting of the COVID-19 Business Leaders Roundtable, it’s this one: Masks are vital. In March, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that everyone wear masks over their noses and mouths in public to stem the spread of COVID-19, and now it’s on Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio and Co. to spread the word. “We are going to [look at] what we need to do to get that message out and what’s the most effective way to do it,” Diorio said. Diorio convened the meeting, which enlisted business leaders to build out the best way to implement Phase One of Gov. Cooper’s plan to reopen North Carolina, launched at 5 p.m. the previous Friday. The group met again on May 19 to discuss Phase Two, which is expected to be implemented on May 22, though that was not officially announced by Q.C. Nerve’s print deadline. Phase One modified North Carolina’s stay-at-home order to allow people to leave their homes for commercial activity with retail business capacity increasing from 20% to 50% as long as cleaning and social distancing continues. The early part of the meeting addressed fine-tuning a toolkit, available on the county’s website, that consolidates guidelines for businesses to reopen safety — cleaning and disinfecting, signage, how to figure maximum capacity and, of course, masks. (As of May 19, the county’s dashboard reported 2,695 cases of COVID-19 and 69 deaths due to the disease.) As much as the county strove to stay ahead of the information curve, many Charlotte businesses were already determining the safest course forward in the pandemic. Their efforts raised a question not heard at the roundtable: What if you threw an opening-the-economy party and no one came — or at least showed up late?
“We just don’t think it’s safe yet,” said Karla Southern, event and creative coordinator at Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find. Any doubts about where the Elizabeth comic book shop stood on jump-starting the COVID-19 ravaged economy were addressed on the store’s blog, where a sobering illustration by artist Patrick Dean boldly declared, “We won’t die for the Dow.” Organizers with Reopen Meck, an advocacy movement that aims to surpass Phase One’s guidelines and have more restrictions removed, hold the
MAYA PILLAI SPEAKS AT A MAY 1 REOPEN MECK RALLY.
opposing view. The movement hosted a 200-person strong protest in Uptown on May 1. Reopen Meck founder Maya Pillai, a student and president of the Davidson College Republicans, seemed surprised when Queen City Nerve told her that some businesses were imposing stricter safety measures than those allowed, if not completely delaying opening their doors. “What are their reasons for not opening?” Pillai asked. Teresa Hernandez, owner of Pura Vida Worldly Art
in NoDa, offers one obvious answer to Pillai’s query. “I don’t want to get sick. I don’t want my employee to get sick,” Hernandez said. “He has a family — two daughters and his wife.” Hernandez closed her business on March 16, several days before the mandated shut down. Schools had been let out, and students were hanging out in the shop, Hernandez remembered. This normally is not a problem, but at a time before social distancing requirements and face masks, she grew concerned. She kept her two-person staff on payroll for a couple of weeks, but when she, like many other small businesses, was unable to secure a loan through the Payroll Protection Program, she reluctantly laid them off. With the May 8 relaxation on retail restrictions, Hernandez contacted her staff. One member declined citing safety concerns, but the remaining employee, Paul Kepp, was eager to work. The following Saturday, Hernandez implemented what she calls a “soft test opening.” The following weekend, Pura Vida opened for a set of abbreviated five-hour days. Instead of 50% capacity, the store imposed a 20% capacity, established handwashing stations and required staff to follow a strict sanitation regimen, cleaning surfaces and merchandise. Hernandez also required customers to wear face masks, and provided masks for customers who did not have any. “Sixty-five percent of the people who came through had their own masks,” Hernandez said. “The other 35% we ended up giving them a mask.” Though she considered the weekend test a qualified success, Hernandez decided to implement appointment-only shopping, in which a patron reserves either 30 or 45 minutes to shop in a small group of two to three people. Masks, sanitation and social distancing requirements remained in place. She also implemented curbside pickup for patrons who don’t yet feel comfortable inside a store. As restrictions lifted, Queen City Nerve interviewed several more small businesses that sought their own path forward in the first days of Phase One. While their decisions varied, all of them shared similar concerns. Scott Wishart, owner of Lunchbox Records in the Belmont neighborhood, has opted not to open his store for now. “I don’t feel safe yet,” Wishart said. “My employees don’t seem to feel that way either. [We] have kids who are in school. It’s kind of hard to work when your kids are out of school.” Opening up would be especially problematic for a record store, he offered. “It’s the kind of business where everyone has PHOTO BY JUSTIN LAFRANCOIS
