By Joshua Huff, sports editor
MONTGOMERY — A newly appointed state committee recommended during a Friday morning press conference that all small retailers and restaurants immediately open with special social distancing guidelines enacted to help mitigate the continued spread of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The Small Business Emergency Task Force, which is helmed by Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth and state Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, stated that while the priority must remain on protecting the health of Alabamians, the need to kickstart the economy has become more pressing following the influx of people filing for unemployment and the many businesses that are currently a stone’s throw away from bankruptcy.
“We know there’s a mortality rate associated with COVID-19 and we understand the seriousness in that,” Garrett said during the press conference. “But there’s also mortality rates and health impacts from dire financial crisis. So we’re concerned about this and it’s important that we move forward to reopen our economy as safely and as soon as possible.”
The task force has been in discussions with hundreds of businesses around the state and most said that they are more than ready to open, and will do so in a safe manner, Garret said.
The task force has recommended that the following businesses should reopen immediately: Retail stores, restaurants, hair salons, nail salons, tattoo parlors, massage parlors and child care facilities.
The caveats are that businesses would need to operated at 50% capacity with distance markers at check-out lines and sanitation stations at entrances and exits. Restaurants would need to place tables six feet apart and limit the tables to just six guests at a time. Any type of close-contact service will have to mask and glove all employees and no costumer will be allowed to congregate in the waiting area. Child care operators will be able to allow just 11 children in the facility at a given time.
The task force also recommended that medical practices should reopen by May 1 along with phasing in beach access with social distancing guidelines in place. Gyms would be able to reopen at 35% capacity. Bars and businesses that allow for large gatherings of people were not included.
“When it comes to reopening the economy and putting people back to work, we believe every business is an essential business,” Ainsworth said. “Each day our economy stays closed, the ripple effect goes through the state.”
The goal for the task force is to allow for smaller businesses to compete with larger national retailers that have remained open.
The decision to listen to these recommendation falls with Gov. Kay Ivey and State Health Officer Scott Harris.
“Consistent with what we’ve been saying all along, the president made it clear that the return to ‘normal’ won’t be a quick or simple process,” Ivey said in a statement. “We will need to see declining cases – and stronger testing – over at least 14-days – to make certain we don’t see a return in the spike up of the infection.”
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