‘Absolute chaos’ as businesses start, stop
As owners open doors, surge forces reclosure
Gov. Gavin Newsom called it a “dimmer switch.”
For Bay Area business owners already grappling with new rules for protecting workers and customers as they reopened, the unexpected orders to close back up again are more like the flickering light in a horror film.
Sonoma Fit CEO Adam Kovacs was in a meeting Monday when he began getting startling text messages saying that he would have to shutter his gyms in Petaluma and Sonoma.
Kovacs was one of thousands of people operating businesses across the Bay Area who are dealing with what some economists have called the worstcase scenario for an economic recovery: conflicting signals from state and local officials on what can open, when and how, that are rapidly reversed as health officials watch positive coronavirus tests and COVID19 hospitalizations rise at an
alarming rate.
Newsom on Monday demanded the closure of California’s indoor restaurants, wineries, movie theaters and bars, and additionally halted gyms, barbershops, hair salons, shopping malls, houses of worship and offices in noncritical industries for the dozens of counties on the state’s watch list. He had previously warned that the state might have to apply a “dimmer switch” as it allowed some sectors to reopen, cautioning that it wouldn’t be a simple matter of turning things back on again.
Kovacs raced out of his meeting and peppered Sonoma County officials with phone calls until he finally got word that Newsom’s sweeping measure, prompted by the upward turn in the pandemic’s warning signs, included the indefinite closure of indoor operations at gyms in the county.
He had gone through multiple rounds of closing and reopening, from the mid-March shelter in place to the time in late June when his Novato gym’s reopening was abruptly denied 48 hours before the scheduled date. Kovacs made big changes in order to reopen its Sonoma and Petaluma locations, including moving some equipment outdoors. Still, Newsom’s Monday move caught him by surprise.
“It was just a bomb,” Kovacs said. “I was in shock. My wife was crying hysterically for I don’t know how long. There was no warning. We were completely unprepared. It is a nightmare to deal with.”
In the Bay Area, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma counties are all on the state’s watch list, subjecting them to the new restrictions and leaving business owners and employees searching for answers amid a whirlwind of emotions.
“It’s just absolute chaos right now,” Kovacs said. “This is freaking frustrating. I’m not going to say that I’ve lost all hope. I’ll find it again, but right now, it’s foggy as hell.”
The fog of changing rules was thick in Santa Clara County this week. Fitness centers and personalcare businesses were allowed to reopen Monday. Hours later, they learned they had to shut down again by 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
Dan Dixon, the owner of Crewners Barber Shop in downtown San Jose, said he had provided Mayor Sam Liccardo with a ninepage outline detailing a reopening plan for barbershops and hair salons in midApril.
Three months later, he was finally allowed to open his steelandpolishedconcrete barbershop. Hours after the reopening, customers started telling him that he might have to close again, so Dixon decided to stay open until the clock struck midnight Wednesday.
Dixon said hair professionals know how to run clean and safe operations. “I don’t mean to diminish the severity of what’s going on. It’s terrible,” he said. “But if everybody did their part, adhered to the protocol, socially distanced, wore masks and washed their hands, we could get this over with and get back to normal.”
Among the Bay Area’s nine counties, only San Francisco and San Mateo have avoided the state’s watch list. Allowed to go their own way under the state’s variance process, which allows each county to diverge from California’s reopening plan, the counties have pursued divergent paths, creating a patchwork of regulations that is particularly confounding for regional operations.
San Ramon’s 24 Hour Fitness was allowed to open 14 Santa Clara County locations for all of two days. In the Bay Area, only some of its San Mateo gyms remain open.
“It’s really hard to guess what’s next, based on how dynamic the entire situation is,” regional Vice President Meredith Klausner said. “The best thing that we can do is continue to monitor all county guidelines and mandates very closely and adjust as it’s safe to do so.”
Vince Albano, a thirdgeneration Sonoma business owner, runs Mary’s Pizza Shack, a restaurant his grandmother founded in 1959 in Boyes Hot Springs.
The company now has 14 Bay Area locations and has furloughed more than 150 of its 500 employees since March, some of whom were rehired. Additional plans for rehiring are on hold.
“Some of our employees may have to go back on unemployment,” Albano said, while some are being redeployed to work on delivery and takeout service. At Mary’s Pizza, delivery orders have increased 110% compared to last year. But inhouse dining was a large portion of revenue, and the overall figures are nowhere close to a year ago,
according to Albano.
Since outdoor dining is still allowed, Mary’s is expanding its patio and adding tables positioned to provide adequate distance.
The backandforth is taxing, but with wildfires and PG&E blackouts last year, Albano said he’s learned to adjust quickly. “Frustration is shortlived. You can’t sit in frustration. We have to do our part in providing a safe and trustworthy environment for our staff and customers,” he said.
Having added 7,000 square feet of outdoor space to his 18,000squarefoot indoor gym in Petaluma, Kovacs is trying to rent a tent for openair training that could help offset the $150,000 a month he loses when his three locations are closed.
Kovacs said he feels like “cancer is rolling in my stomach” when he thinks of the gyms’ membership dropping from 4,200 to 3,100 during the pandemic. He said he sees his 150 employees “aging before my eyes.”
Sonoma Valley Chamber CEO Mark Bodenhamer said businesses in the North Bay community are dealing with the “yoyo effect” of closing, opening and closing again.
“Everyone is frustrated, but we all understand that we’re part of a larger community, and we need to work together to get over this hurdle,” Bodenhamer said. “A strong economy doesn’t matter if we’re all dead.”