Reopening Readied

City officials and state business leaders are hustling to get the word out about the upcoming phased statewide ​“reopening” — which comes with a host of recommendations, rules, detailed planning, and apprehension around how this economic experiment can be done safely during a pandemic.

The statewide partial reopening slated to begin May 20 was the subject of two virtual discussions and press conferences that took place Thursday.

One was held in the morning by the Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group’s business committee as a video livestream on CT‑N; the other in the afternoon by Mayor Justin Elicker and top city health and economic officials on the Zoom teleconferencing app and on YouTube Live.

In both discussions, public officials and business reps walked through the requirements and rationale behind the governor’s recently released, sector-specific Phase 1 reopening guidelines. 

Businesses eligible to partially reopen starting May 20 include hair salons and barbershops, restaurants, offices, museums and zoos, and retail and malls.

Elicker noted that many New Haven businesses — including grocery stores, hospitals, restaurants serving take-out, and other state-designated ​“essential services” — have remained open and running throughout the first two months of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I don’t see May 20 as a single date for the next phase of reopening of retail, outdoor dining, and barbershops and hair salons,” he said. ​“It’s one small step, and this is a much longer conversation about comfort and health and safety.”

He said that his administration has tried over the past two months to keep its focus on public health — on ramping up testing and contact tracing, issuing social distancing guidelines and reduced occupancy orders, on providing housing and health care and food for the city’s most vulnerable — with the understanding that ​“health is very closely tied to economic success.”

He said that City Hall will maintain that public health focus even as top city economic officials like Michael Piscitelli shift their attention towards rolling out the governor’s Phase 1 reopening guidelines for eligible local businesses.

“If we do things too quickly, we may have to end up tightening up again because of a resurgence of the virus,” warned Elicker.

“We’ll be monitoring this very, very closely. I think it’s important for small businesses to be flexible down the road, if there is another spike, to potentially have to close up again.”

City Health Director Maritza Bond agreed. ​“We’ll be doing continuing monitoring and surveillance of the pandemic,” she said. ​“Should there be a spike [in infections and hospitalizations after May 20], we would have to revisit and work with the mayor and city officials and the governor to determine what the next steps should be.”

“Not Going To Be A Completely Smooth Process”

During the local presser, Piscitelli, Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce President Garrett Sheehan, and Economic Development Corporation of New Haven Executive Director Ginny Kozlowski provided an overview of the guidelines that every eligible business must follow if they want to partially reopen on May 20.

They said the city would be hosting sector-specific webinars for the office, restaurant, and hair salon and barbershop guidelines Friday morning and early afternoon.

“Some people think this is too fast, some people think this is too slow,” Sheehan said about the May 20 date.

What’s most important for businesses to understand right now is that they do not have to open on May 20 if they do not feel that it is safe to do so, he said. ​“You are not forced to reopen on May 20.”

But if you do, there are certain rules and recommendations that every eligible business should follow.

Those include:

• Limiting capacity to 50 percent of that approved by the fire marshal for a given space.
• Establishing strict cleaning and disinfection protocls.
• Allowing those who can work from home to continue to do so.
• Encouraging those over the age of 65 or with co-morbidities to stay home.
• Requiring employees and customers to wear facemasks at all times, except when eating.
• Limiting social gatherings to a maximum of five people.

Businesses that choose to reopen also have to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to employees if they don’t already have masks and gloves.

And they have to install visual social distancing markers to keep customers and employees at least six feet apart from one another.

And they have to self-certify with the state in order to prove to the state and to customers that business owners have read through and understand the various requirements for reopening starting May 20.

“This is not going to be a completely smooth process,” Sheehan said. He said there will likely be some ​“hiccups.”

“No one was trained on Covid, and we’re all still learning,” he said about how business owners should train their employees per the governor’s guidance. ​“Training is just going to be following common sense practices, whether it’s cleaning, making sure people continue to wear masks, and other types of things you can do to make sure you take care of your employees and customers.”

During the public question-and-answer session of the meeting, Jose DeJesus asked what restaurants that do not have an outdoor eating area already should do. Can they reopen on May 20?

Piscitelli (pictured) said that the city has consolidated its application process for restaurants interested in setting up outdoor dining, curbside-pick up, and take out. That application will be posted on the city’s website.

He said that city plan and economic development officials will be on call to help restaurants figure out if and how they can reopen in compliance with the governor’s guidelines, which does not allow for indoor dining.

And he directed local business owners and interested members of the public to the Together New Haven website to track the city’s various efforts to help local businesses during the pandemic.

When asked if the city is open to closing down streets to make more space available for outdoor dining, Piscitelli said that city officials are currently in conversation with downtown merchants and with the Board of Alders about that very possibility.

“We’re excited to do what we can to make sure we’re providing resources for businesses,” said Elicker. He said the prospect of closing down city streets comes with quite a few complications and logistics. ​“We want to do this in partnership with the Board of Alders,” he said.

Will the city waive the usual fee for restaurants interested in doing sidewalk dining?

“Not out the gate,” Piscitelli replied. That fee schedule will be included as part of the application process. He said the city is working to help restaurants set up curb-side, take-out operations free of charge.

And what happens if a restaurant employee tests positive for the novel coronavirus? one member of the public asked. Does that mean the whole business gets shut down?

In that case, Bond replied, the health department will reach out to the restaurant and use contact tracing efforts to figure out who that employee has been in contact with and who might need to isolate or quarantine to stem the potential of community spread.

Elicker reiterated a call he made on Wednesday for businesses that are planning to open on May 20 and that provide close contact between customers and employees to have employees tested for the novel coronavirus. He encouraged employees to go to the Day Street Park walk-up testing site, which the city runs in conjunction with Greenwich-based doctor Stephen Murphy.

“We’re Going To Learn A Lot”

During Thursday morning’s virtual meeting of the Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group’s business committee, state economic development chief David Lehman and committee chair Oni Chukwu said that the Phase 1 reopening recommendations stemmed from an effort to balance public health and economic considerations.

The committee looked at unemployment claims by industry as well as at potential environmental constraints on physical distancing and hygiene when determining which types of businesses should be included in Phase 1, Lehman said.

For example, the committee included outdoor dine-in restaurants in that list because the members believed that employees and customers will be able to maintain six-foot distances between one another and minimize physical contact between people in that context. Lehman said that allowing restaurants to reopen more fully would also have an outsized impact on the state’s economy, considering that 12 percent of all unemployment claims across Connecticut have come from restaurant workers.

Lehman and Chukwu and the other committee members repeated again and again that businesses do not have to reopen if they don’t feel it is safe to do so come May 20.

“We realize that some folks might feel it’s too early for their business,” Lehman said, ​“but we thought it important to provide the flexibility and option for businesses” that do want to partially reopen.

“It’s important that we use common sense,” said Chukwu (pictured). ​“It’s important that we all recognize that, as smart as this committee was in coming up with these rules, they are not by any means comprehensive. And common sense at the end of the day wins it.”

He described the May 20 Phase 1 reopening as a ​“baby steps approach,” to be followed by a Phase 2 set of reopening guidelines that the committee will likely release in three or four weeks. Depending, of course, on how well Phase 1 goes and on whether or not it leads to a spike in infections and hospitalizations.

“We’re going to learn a lot as we get into some of these over the next two to three weeks,” Chukwu said. ​“We can dial forward and back as needed if we see there’s an outbreak.”

Chukwu cited White House infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci, who told a U.S. Senate committee earlier this week that state-by-state reopenings of the economy will likely lead to more infections, hospitalizations, and deaths.

“There is a good reason to believe that a second surge of this will be imminent. That it will come,” Chukwu said. ​“We want to make sure that we’re preventing that, or at least putting in the things that will help us dial back.” Thus the committee’s guidelines.

Sheehan (pictured above with Lehman), who is also a member of the state business committee, reiterated the importance of exercising ​“common sense” when deciding when and how to reopen one’s business come May 20.

“There’s a lot of devastation out there,” he said about Connecticut’s economic landscape during the pandemic. He said some small businesses that have closed their doors likely won’t be able to reopen.

“We want to get as many things open as we can,” he said, to stave off widescale permanent business closures and further economic hardship.

But, he said, that reopening can’t come at the cost of risking another outbreak. ​“You need to use the guidelines and then use common sense about how you’re best going to keep people safe,” he urged business owners who are eligible to reopen on May 20.

Joe Brennan, the president and CEO of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, ended his comments Thursday morning on a slightly different note. He said he and his organization’s members are very concerned about businesses being blamed for an uptick in infections and hospitalizations in the coming weeks. He said the state will likely see its Covid-19 numbers rise because of an increase in testing. He cautioned against blaming businesses for that bump.

“We’re all worried about having to shut down after we open up,” he said.

“Busier Than Ever”

At Jordan’s Hot Dogs & Mac on upper State Street Thursday midday, Corey Spruill (pictured) wasn’t necessarily following either of the day’s virtual public pressers.

Instead, he was preparing for what he anticipated would be another busy day of take-out and delivery.

“It’s been crazy,” he said. ​“Busier than ever.”

As he filled a row of small plastic cups with various condiments, Spruill said he does plan on setting up a few chairs and tables on the sidewalk outside of his restaurant to allow for outdoor, sit-down dining come May 20.

In the meantime, he and his staff of four all wear face masks and latex gloves while preparing and handing off food to customers.

A sign on the facade states that customers must have a face covering on before coming into the shop.

When asked what he does if he notices customers getting closer than six feet to one another when inside the restaurant waiting for take-out, Spruill said, ​“We tell them to go outside.”

The most popular items on the menu over the past few weeks?

“Wings, and burgers, and loaded fries,” he said from behind the black-and-white, paisley-patterned bandanna wrapped around his mouth and nose.

Dam Li (pictured) of Blessing II Go Chinese Restaurant on State Street , meanwhile, was surprised to learn the details around the May 20 partial reopening date.

She said she did not know before talking with this reporter that restaurants could start setting up outdoor, sit-down dining on May 20 if they abide by the governor’s various guidelines.

She said takeout business has been going well, and that, if it is an option, her business would gladly set up outdoor tables next week.

“I think it’s OK for us,” she said.

“Especially with the nice weather,” she added.

Behind a face mask, goggles, and a plexiglass partition separating the cash register from customers, she looked out the restaurant’s front windows. The sun was shining, and the sidewalk beckoned.

National Guard Flyover; 2,146 City Cases

Other Covid-19 related updates from Elicker’s Thursday afternoon virtual press conference included:

• The Connecticut Air National Guard flew over parts of the city Thursday midday in honor of city health care workers. Watch a video of that flyover above.

• The city now has 2,146 confirmed positive novel coronavirus cases and 83 related fatalities.

• City Community Services Administrator Mehul Dalal said that the city has seen a downward trend in new coronavirus cases and Covid-19 hospitalizations at Yale New Haven Hospital’s York Street and St. Raphael’s campuses. He said both weekly averages are down from highs that the city experienced in April.

“We’re hoping that those trends continue,” he said.