USA TODAY International Edition
❚ In Georgia, businesses are wondering: Do we take the risk?
‘ Is there risk we take? Absolutely,’ owner says
ATLANTA – Danny Blackmon was already struggling to keep his southwest Georgia office equipment businesses afloat when the coronavirus outbreak hit. Then, at the end of March, a tornado destroyed his home and farm. Last week, he laid off his two employees.
“I honestly can’t tell you that my business will survive right now,” the Georgetown- Quitman County resident said. “I’m paying bills, and there’s no income coming in. How long can I do that?”
Blackmon, who serves as chairman of the Southwest Georgia Regional Development Commission, supports Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to reopen parts of the state’s economy Friday. If offices don’t reopen, Blackmon can’t sell his printers and copiers.
“At some point, you have got to make a move. Is there risk we take? Absolutely there is. But we risk even more when we lose ground with the economy,” he said.
Gyms, tattoo parlors, hair and nail salons, massage therapists and other businesses will be allowed to reopen in Georgia on Friday, less than a month after the state forced them to close amid the coronavirus pandemic. In- person religious services can resume this weekend, and restaurants and theaters can reopen Monday.
Kemp announced the eased restrictions this week – a decision that was widely criticized by mayors and business owners who insisted it’s too soon.
Other merchants and officials praised the reopening, saying closures would cripple the state’s economy and shut down many small businesses. In the past month, the Georgia Department of Labor has processed more than 1 million unemployment claims, more than the combined total for the previous three years, the department said Thursday.
No ‘ sense to risk dying’
Carlene Nelson, who owns a salon in Evans, Georgia, said she decided to “play it safe.” Nelson will not open until
Monday, when the co- owner of the Retreat Spa & Salon is more confident her employees and customers will be safe from spreading COVID- 19.
“We want to make sure all our cleaning supplies and face shields are in place,” said Nelson, who is splitting her staff of 10 stylists into alternating shifts of five to reduce the number of people in the building. “We’ll be taking everyone’s temperatures and asking questions about if they have had any symptoms or have been around anyone who has.”
The spa side of the business, which does massages and facials, will not open until a later date, she said. On the salon side, technicians will do pedicures but not manicures.
For Tiffany Terranova, owner of RAW Bronzing Studio, an organic spray- tanning salon with four locations in Atlanta, this week would have been the busiest of the year. The business has brought in $ 577 this month through online retail, but Terranova owes $ 25,000 in expenses for April. She doesn’t plan to reopen anytime soon.
“It just doesn’t make sense to risk dying over a spray- tan. We’re the most nonessential of businesses. And the fact that Kemp is rolling out this opening so soon, it just doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “We’ve kind of taken it for granted that our hospitals aren’t overrun at this point.”
Terranova started her business 10 years ago out of her house. She, her husband and sister have 13 employees, whom they laid off so the employees could apply for unemployment. Now that salons are allowed to reopen, Terranova said she’s concerned about remaining eligible for unemployment.
“Small businesses don’t have enough money in reserve to experiment – to try to reopen and then go back to a shelterin- place,” she said. “It feels like we’re the guinea pigs for a long and unsafe experiment that is going to fail.”
Terranova said she would be concerned about accidentally infecting her customers or contracting the disease herself. Terranova’s mother- in- law lives with her, and her sister’s fiancee has diabetes. “We cannot risk getting sick,” she said.
Mike Martino, co- owner of five Bodyplex Fitness locations in Georgia, said reopening will be a gradual process and expects only a handful of clients to show up Friday. Martino said he supported Kemp’s decision to reopen the state in phases because small- business owners have struggled since the shutdown.
“If they don’t open back gradually, you are going to see more and more of those businesses close,” Martino said. “It’s definitely an opportunity for small businesses to try to cautiously reenter the business world and allow them to generate revenue that could keep them afloat.”
‘ Not quite where we need to be’
Public health experts said Georgia is not conducting enough testing and contact tracing to reopen businesses.
“Look, I understand that businesses are hurting,” said Saad Omer, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health and a former 11- year Georgia resident. “But the key is to safely open. These are people actually losing their lives. Have we all of a sudden decided that people losing lives is not a significant event?”
Georgia has not seen a 14- day downward trajectory in the rate of new cases, according to data from the state’s Department of Health. More than 21,000 people have tested positive for the virus in Georgia, and more than 870 have died, according to the department Thursday. About 101,000 tests have been conducted in the state of more than 10 million.
Omer was particularly critical of the governor’s decision to open salons and gyms. “It’s as if someone took the list of the things that you should be careful about opening and then flipped it around,” he said. “It’s ironic that Georgia has perhaps the highest rate of public health experts per capita because of the CDC and, despite that, they’re implementing polices that are not supported by evidence.”
“I told the governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, that I disagree strongly with his decision to open certain facilities,” Trump said Wednesday. But Trump said the final call is the governor’s to make.