Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Governor outlines rules for opening of restaurants
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas restaurants will be allowed to open for dine-in service May 11 as long as they take precautions such as requiring employees and customers to wear masks, limiting their seating and spacing tables 10 feet apart, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Wednesday.
At his daily news conference on the coronavirus, Hutchinson also announced a plan to use $15 million in federal coronavirus relief money for grants up to $100,000 to help businesses with expenses such as buying protective equipment and reconfiguring operations to meet public health guidelines.
“This is a great opportunity for us to reengage, to rehire and start getting back to business in a phased and cautious approach,” he said.
Later Wednesday, an advisory panel of cabinet secretaries and legislators recommended Hutchinson approve $81 million for other programs, including assistance to nursing homes, physicians and other health care providers and a “public education campaign” to “rebuild consumer and employer confidence.”
“We can lift restrictions, we can open restaurants, we can allow churches to meet, but the public is just not going to participate in that and engage the economy unless they feel like it’s safe to do so,” said Stacy Hurst, Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism
secretary, presenting the pro- posal to the panel.
DATE ‘SOLID’
The announcements came as the state’s death toll from the coronavirus rose two, to 59.
From Tuesday evening to Wednesday afternoon, the number of cases in the state’s official tally, which doesn’t include results from an outbreak at the Cummins Unit in Lincoln County, rose 80, to 3,207.
All 81 cases were from outside the prison, state Department of Health Secretary Nate Smith said.
The state reported 60 non-inmate cases Monday and 74 on Tuesday.
“That’s obviously a concern any time you see cases that go up,” Hutchinson said.
But, while he said he would be monitoring the virus’s spread, he said the May 11 date for restaurants to open their dining rooms is unlikely to change.
“I expect that when you set a date for May 11 that businesses count on, they’re investing in that date, you don’t move it unless you have absolutely no other recourse,” Hutchinson said. “So we’ll watch it but we expect that date to be solid.”
He added he could simply wait longer to relax restrictions further if growth in new cases doesn’t slow.
“That’s the kind of discipline that we’d probably exercise, would be not simply going on the second phase,” he said.
MASKS REQUIRED
According to the new rules, customers eating at a restaurant will be required to wear a mask covering their nose and mouth upon entering and until their food or drinks are served.
Masks will also be required for staff coming into contact with customers and encouraged for those working in the kitchen.
People will be able to eat together in groups no bigger than 10 people, and restaurants will be required to limit seating to 33% of capacity.
Reservations should be encouraged “when practical,” and physical distancing should be maintained while customers are waiting to be seated, according to the directive. Customers also should be encouraged to order ahead of time “to reduce time spent in the facility.”
Staff will be required to be screened each day for cough, sore throat, fever and shortness of breath. Signs will also have to be posted barring customers from entering if they have such symptoms. Staff will required to wear gloves that must be “changed out between each customer, customer group, or task.”
Restaurants will also be encouraged to have a “senior hour to provide exclusive access to these high risk individuals.” Customers won’t be allowed to order from the bar.
Buffets, salad bars and other self-service options will be prohibited. Restaurants also won’t be allowed to provide live entertainment.
Bars that aren’t part of restaurants will remain closed.
New Health Department directives, relaxing restrictions further, will come after “the Secretary of Health determines epidemiological data are sufficient.”
In the second phase, restaurants will be able to increase seating to 66%, and bars and entertainment options will open with a requirement for customers to maintain 6 feet of separation.
Phase 3 “will include returning to normal operations with full seating capacity.”
REACTION MIXED
City officials around the state voiced support for the announcement, but reaction from the restaurant industry was mixed.
Restaurants in the state have been limited to take-out, delivery and drive-through service since March 20.
Some Little Rock restaurant owners said it was still too early to safely serve dinein customers and planned to stick with offering carry-out or delivery only.
Hutchinson said the Health Department directive won’t change emergency rules allowing restaurants with wine and beer permits to sell and deliver unopened containers of wine and beer with food for off-premises consumption.
Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said the governor took a lot of time to listen feedback from Little Rock about a restaurant opening date.
Scott said he conveyed a wide variety of opinions from 30 to 40 restaurateurs representing a diverse cross-section of eateries.
“We’re working as best as possible to have a collaboration with the state on how we respond and focus on protecting lives in Little Rock,” Scott said. “He has to make a statewide policy, so we’re going to do what’s best to follow that policy.”
Scott said he’s concerned about a second wave of the virus but hopes to ramp up testing, especially in black and Latino communities that lack sufficient access.
North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith said if Department of Health officials are comfortable with allowing limited dine-in operations, then he’s all for it.
“We have around 200 restaurants in North Little Rock, and I would say about half of them have switched over to carry-out and curbside service,” Smith said. “They are struggling, no doubt. If they can do 33 percent occupancy safely and they can afford to do it, then I see this as a great option.”
Texarkana City Manager Kenneth Haskin said the governor’s announcement was welcome news and restaurant owners he’s spoken with are relatively comfortable with opening.
“This is not a precipitous reopening. This is a gradual approach,” he said. “I’d say it’s a much more reasonable approach to reopening than just throwing on a light switch, and our businesses understand that.”
Jonesboro Mayor Harold Perrin said he also trusts Hutchinson’s plan. “Everyone from the governor to mayors to business owners are learning as they go right now,” Perrin said. “I believe strongly in each step our governor has taken thus far, and I am eager to see Jonesboro’s economy back on its legs.”
Haskin pointed out there’s no certainty customers will embrace dining out the way they did prior to the pandemic. “That’s where we’re going to see if the consumers are ready to come out, but we believe the approach is reasonable,” he said. “It makes sense, and we’re certainly going to embrace it and see how things shake out.”
Fort Smith City Administrator Carl Geffken said he supports the decisions Hutchinson has made.
“They were based on what Arkansas was facing with covid-19, and as we move forward to open our shuttered businesses, I know the governor is relying on his medical experts to determine the best course of action,” Geffken said.
LATEST DEATHS
A state website indicated the virus claimed its first death of Sevier County resident.
Jefferson County’s death toll rose one, to 14.
Smith said Montgomery County reported its first case, leaving Little River and Calhoun counties as the only ones where a resident hasn’t tested positive.
Identified infections increased among nursing home residents in the state increased 11, to 241, including 19 residents who have died, and among staff at the homes by 13, to 128.
No new cases were reported at the Cummins Unit, where 860 inmates and 51 staff members tested positive.
Smith said one of the inmates is hospitalized in the field hospital at the unit, three are at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center and seven are at Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Pine Bluff. Three of the hospitalized inmates are on ventilators, he said.
Statewide, the number of hospitalized covid-19 patients fell 11, to 93, and those on ventilators fell two, to 18.
BUSINESS GRANTS
The grant program, which Hutchinson said will require approval of the Legislative Council, would provide $1,000 grants per employee to businesses for expenses from March 1 to Dec. 31 associated with ensuring the health of their employees and customers.The maximum grant amount would be $100,000.
Eligible expenses include personal protective equipment, cleaning, hand sanitizer stations, signs and re-configuring operations to meet health guidelines.
Half the money would be designated for businesses with fewer than 50 employees. Applications would be reviewed in the order they are received, according to a summary of the proposal.
Money for the grants would come from the $1.25 billion Arkansas was allocated under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act passed by Congress last month.
The state CARES Act Steering Committee also recommended spending up to $700,000 on the marketing campaign by Little Rock firm CJRW.
According to the firm’s proposal, the campaign would run from May through July and include a website, television commercials, online advertising, email marketing and public relations.
The proposal was presented by Hurst on behalf of the economic recovery task force appointed by Hutchinson to make recommendations on how to relax restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
“One of the first challenges that we recognized as a committee, as a task force, is that consumers won’t reenter the marketplace until they have a level of confidence that they can do so safely,” Hurst said.
She said the campaign will “be both consumer-driven and business-driven and really focus on providing the narrative that the decisions are driven by science and it is safe to return to the marketplace.”
The committee also recommended approving a proposal by the state Department of Human Services to spend $45 million to reimburse nursing homes for expenses associated with the pandemic and $23 million for other providers including independent physicians, ambulance services, mental health agencies and providers who serve the developmentally disabled.
The department would also spend up to $1.2 million to provide an extra payment of $500 to foster parents.
Cindy Gillespie, Human Services Department secretary, said the nursing home assistance is similar what the department hoped to provide using Medicaid money, but hasn’t received federal approval yet.
If the Medicaid proposal is approved or other federal funding becomes available for any of the department’s proposals, the department use that funding source and return the CARES Act money, she said.
“One of the first challenges that we recognized as a committee, as a task force, is that consumers won’t reenter the marketplace until they have a level of confidence that they can do so safely.” — Stacy Hurst, Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism secretary