Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
■ Safety rules for reopening restaurants, stores and hair salons.
The big Phase 1 reopening is set for Monday for hair salons, restaurants and stores across South Florida. And to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, they’re being asked to follow new safety guidelines.
Here they are:
Hair salons, barber shops and nail salons
■ Limit occupancy to 50% of building capacity.
■ Require patrons to make appointments.
■ Schedule 15 minutes between appointments to allow time for proper disinfecting of the area.
■ Avoid group appointments that increase occupancy during the same time periods.
■ Regularly sanitize working stations and equipment between customers.
■ Unless there are walls between work stations and chairs, customers ought to stay 6 feet apart.
■ Require all employees to wear face masks and face coverings while inside or within close proximity of customers.
■ Encourage customers to wear face masks or face coverings when entering the premises. Provide face masks or face coverings upon request, if available.
■ After each customer, equipment, instruments, smocks, linens and the work area should be sanitized.
■ Hand sanitizers must be placed at the entrance and customers must sanitize their hands upon entering.
Restaurants
On May 11, restaurants in Palm Beach County were permitted to open at 25% capacity. On Monday, restaurants across the state, including Broward and MiamiDade, can open at 50% capacity.
Restaurants are being asked to follow these rules:
■ Employees must wash their hands and use facial coverings. That includes workers in direct contact with customers as well as employees who prepare and handle food.
■ Food preparers are encouraged to wear gloves.
■ Employees with symptoms of COVID-19, including fever, cough or shortness of breath, will be immediately sent home.
■ All tables and chairs, whether indoor or outdoor, should be at least 6 feet apart between parties.
■ Bar counters should remain closed.
■ Groups need to be capped at 10 people.
■ Hand sanitizer has to be readily available.
■ Restaurants should provide disposable menus or digital menus that are sanitized after each use.
■ Restaurants should provide physical guides, using tape on floors or sidewalks, to ensure that customers remain at least 6 feet apart when standing in line.
■ Customers must wait in their cars or away from the establishment while waiting for a table or to pick up food.
■ To avoid the use of buzzers, patrons should be alerted by phone when their table or food is ready.
■ Buffets and salad bars must remain closed.
■ Self-service drink stations must be washed and sanitized frequently.
■ Lemons, unwrapped utensils and unwrapped straws must be removed from drink stations.
Stores
■ Stores should limit the number of customers inside a store at any given time, excluding employees and third-party delivery companies, to a maximum of 25% maximum occupancy.
■ Food courts in shopping malls must have at least 6 feet between tables.
■ Stores should establish one-way aisles and traffic patterns for social distancing.
■ Do not allow self-serve products, including perfume testers, in order to limit customer contact with retail products before purchasing.
■ The rules prohibit the use of reusable bags since reusable bags can carry COVID-19.