Ideas for Reopening U.S. Businesses, Etc., Closed Due to COVID-19

There’s much disagreement over when and how to reopen United States businesses, etc., that are closed due to COVID-19 (novel coronavirus). Below I offer some ideas for doing so.

Some Basics

While much remains unknown about COVID-19, many persons agree that maintaining social distancing of six feet or more and wearing cloth facial masks can help reduce the spread of the disease.

Also, most persons who die from the disease are eldejrly and/or suffer from underlying health conditions such as diabetes, some form of lung ailment, etc.

This indicates that many businesses and other activities could restart soon if they:

• keep employees and customers separated from one another by six feet or more,
• require facial masks to be worn by both workers and patrons,
• and persons who are senior citizens or suffer from underlying health conditions seek to stay home.

Current Precautions By Businesses That Remain Open

Many retail stores that are currently open (supermarkets, discount stores, etc.) during the pandemic are taking several precautions to reduce the likelihood of spreading COVID-19. These steps include:

• requiring employees (and in at least a few cases, customers) to wear facial masks,

• limiting the number of customers in their stores,

• seeking to maintain a minimum of six feet (I think at least ten feet is better.) between customers even in checkout lines by marking distances in tape on the floor,

•  and installing sneeze guards at register areas to reduce contact between cashiers and customers.

These steps seem effective in reducing the spread of the disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website [1] provides similar and additional information about COVID-19 and how to reduce its spread, including encouraging persons to seek to wash hands frequently, avoid touching one’s face, and to maintain social distancing of at least six feet, as well as staying at home when reasonably possible, especially if you are age 65 or older or have an underlying health problem.

We Need a Balanced Perspective

Total isolation at home might be the most effective way to stop the spread of the disease. But persons need food, medicine, etc. Furthermore, some must work at healthcare facilities, groceries, warehouses, etc., to provide necessary services.

And shutting down a large percentage of businesses for a long period would be enormously expensive. A cost-effective balance needs to be found that provides a reasonable amount of safety while not driving the federal, state, and local governments, or large numbers of businesses and individuals into bankruptcy.

What Is a Balanced Perspective?

Current indications are that deaths and new cases of COVID-19 in the United States are at or near a peak, about to start declining. This may offer a good opportunity to gradually reopen businesses.

Businesses that can provide the same safety measures mentioned earlier in this article regarding businesses currently open can I think reopen, subject to possibly closing again if a surge in cases occurs.

I think reopening most businesses is a risk worth taking. What is the huge difference between a person buying clothes, shoes, etc., at a huge discount store while there to buy their groceries and the same person shopping at a clothing or shoe store?

If hair salon owners and customers wear masks and persons are required to set up appointments in advance (so there is no one in a waiting room), allowing them to reopen seems reasonable.

Restaurants that can provide for tables to be several feet apart, thus allowing persons to maintain social distances, could also reopen for inside dining, as I see it. Since persons may sit at a restaurant table for an hour or more, I think social distancing of at least ten feet is preferable to six feet and good ventilation is important too.

Yes, as long as they can adhere to reasonable guidelines (which I think I outlined above), I think many, if not most, businesses can reopen relatively soon.

Team Sports, Including Spectator Sports

Team sports are not a necessity (though I am a big college basketball fan). And such sports present major social distancing problems.

It is virtually impossible for football players or basketball players to maintain social distances while playing their sport. Therefore, I oppose restarting those in the near future.

Baseball is less of a problem. The fielding team is spread out across the large field or stadium. The batting team only has one player at the plate at a time. And if fans are only allowed in perhaps 1/3 of the seats in each row and only 1/3 of the rows, thus seating perhaps 1/9 of the normal capacity, perhaps a crowd of 5,000 could watch a game in a stadium that normally seats 45,000 as long as they maintain spacing entering and leaving the stadium, while using restrooms and concession stands, etc.

But even with baseball, there is some brief contact between players while running the bases, being tagged out, etc. However, while I think it would be better to hold off on all team sports, I think baseball could perhaps start a season in late May, subject to the restriction that it be cancelled if significant problems develop.

If baseball (and similar sports) goes well and cases of COVID-19 continue declining, maybe football and basketball could be played later. But we need to beware of a possible resurgence of the disease worse than the initial outbreak. I suspect college football and college basketball may not be played this upcoming season due to a resurgence of COVID-19 in the winter. Ditto for professional sports.

Public Schools 

If things go well this summer, I think schools may be able to reopen for the fall, which remains months away. But, they need to be prepared to close quickly and return to online instruction if COVID-19 cases surge. 

A Resurgence in Fall or Winter

The horrible 1918-19 flue pandemic caused more problems in its second and third waves in fall 1918 and winter of 1918-19 that it did in its spring 1918 outbreak. And some form of flu (which is a type of coronavirus) returns each year.

Experts don’t know yet if COVID-19 will do the same. But many believe it will return this fall and winter, worse than it is now. It may be necessary to maintain social distancing, use of facial masks, and other safety precautions for a year or more.

Good news is that as the production of protective facial masks, expansion of medical facilities, development of treatment methods, and work on a vaccine progress, we may be better prepared for a fall and winter outbreak than we were for the initial one, assuming we don’t let our guard down. A key is to seek to be prepared for a resurgence as we reopen businesses, etc.

Closing Thoughts

The fact that a large percentage of persons who get COVID-19 seem to be asymptomatic or only have mild symptoms is good news. A Reuters article [2] reported that “96% of 3,277 inmates who tested positve for the coronavirus were asymptomatic,” in four U.S. “state prison systems.” Such high percentages of asymptomatic cases haven’t been found in other situations, so perhaps something about the prison system contributes to this, but it is agreed that a large number of persons with the disease are asymptomatic. 

And though at least some of the virus may remain in the air for minutes or longer and on surfaces for hours or days, indications are that prolonged contact with infected persons is the primary method of spread. Maintaining social distancing and wearing masks can help.

Allowing more businesses to reopen with safety guidelines in place is a reasonable middle road, as I see it. We don’t want a total reopening without any safety measures.

But we don’t want so many problems from closed-down businesses that more persons die from suicide than from COVID-19. A March 29 Tennessee Star article [3] reported more suicides in one Tennessee county in a week than deaths in the entire state from COVID-19. While I don’t know the cause of the suicides, I am confident that concerns about unemployment, the economy, etc., take their toll on persons’ mental health.

Let’s seek to take reasonable safety precautions and seek to keep our sanity. I optimistically feel things are going to work out well in the end thanks to God and to the medical professionals, researchers, and safety precautions by businesses and individuals that are under God’s guidance.

ENDNOTES:

1 “Coronavirus Disease 2019”;  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; webpage accessed April 26, 2020; https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

2 Linda So, Grant Smith; “In four U.S. state prisons, nearly 3,300 inmates test positive for corona virus -- 96% without symptoms”; Reuters; April 25, 2020, updated April 26, 2020; webpage accessed April 26, 2020; https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-prisons-testing-in-idUSKCN2270RX

3 Anthony Gockowski; “More Peole Died of Suicide Than Coronavirus in Tennesseee Last Week”; The Tennessee Star; March 29, 2020; webpage accessed April 26, 2020; https://tennesseestar.com/2020/03/29/more-people-died-of-suicide-than-coronavirus-in-tennessee-last-week/

DISCLOSURE:

The author works part-time at a retail store. The store he works at remains open. Among other things, it sells a lot of groceries, cleaning supplies, and toilet paper.

NOTE:

This article being submitted to Google Blogger on April 26, 2020 is virtually identical to one posted earlier the same day on Craft News Report, a website operated by his friend Paul Craft.