After weeks of halted or altered service models, local businesses have been busy preparing for the state’s phased reopening plan.
Governor Andy Beshear’s Healthy at Work timeline included provisions for the phased reopening of manufacturing and construction, government offices and retail by May 20. Restaurants are allowed to reopen at 33 percent capacity for dine-in service on May 22 and must meet certain public safety requirements, with services such as hair and nail salons allowed to reopen on May 25.
Fitness and movie theaters can reopen June 1, with campgrounds and childcare services following on June 11 and June 15, respectively. Bars will be allowed to reopen as early as July 1.
Locally, Mayor Linda Gorton has tapped dozens of community leaders to serve on the city’s COVID-19 Economic Response Committee, which is broken into a number of subcommittees focusing on providing guidance and insight on reopening education, healthcare, restaurants and bars, professional services, retailers and more.
Mary Quinn Ramer
Mary Quinn Ramer
“We have been pleased to serve on the Mayor’s Economic Response Committee, and plan to continue working closely with tourism-related businesses to provide additional guidance as we move through phases two and three of the Governor’s recovery timeline,” said Mary Quinn Ramer, president of VisitLEX.
As restaurants pivot toward reopening in-person dining, Bluegrass Hospitality Group operating owner Brian McCarty feels optimistic about the coming weeks, even at reduced capacity.
BHG’s four locations in Tennessee were able to successfully open at 50 percent dine-in capacity in late April, per Governor Bill Lee’s recommendations, allowing McCarty and his team to feel confident about plans for serving at 33 percent capacity in Kentucky, he said.
Already, BHG has a detailed plan in place to keep both employees and customers safe, including placing hosting stands outside to allow for greater social distancing; limiting table party size; conducting staff temperature checks and health screenings daily; sanitizing high-touch areas within the restaurants frequently; having staff wear masks and gloves; and using single-use, disposable menus or ones that are printed on polyester, allowing them to be sanitized after each use, McCarty said.
BHG has seen such an uptick in its carryout business — up 300 to 400 percent over last year — that McCarty feels its restaurants will be able to make reduced in-person dining capacity work.
“Carry-out is going to stay strong for the near term,” he said. “The trick is, we’ve never done in-person service and carry-out at these inflated volumes at the same time. But we’re excited about being able to reopen and making it work.”
The brisk pace of carry-out means that BHG anticipates offering every one of its furloughed employees their jobs back soon, McCarty said.
“Based on what’s happened so far in Tennessee [in terms of the response of in-person dining to date], we are going to offer everyone their job back,” he said. “I think the volumes are there to support it.”
In Versailles, The Kentucky Castle opened its in-house restaurant, Castle Farms, on May 22 using guidance from the state government as well as its owners, a team of local doctors, to “create the best practices to keep our guests and staff safe,” said Abby Morrell, the venue’s director of events.
The farm-to-table restaurant will be open to groups of 10 or fewer, and the facility has expanded to three dining rooms, while at the same time lowering its overall seating capacity, in order to provide socially distanced seating, Morrell said.
Staff will wear face masks and gloves and undergo brief health screenings upon arrival. Additionally, housekeeping protocols have been augmented to “ensure the cleanliness of all spaces,” Morrell said.
A detailed document released by The Kentucky Castle and available on its website outlines the venue’s extensive restaurant, hotel, spa and event space COVID-19 safety protocols.
“Our team can’t wait to provide once-in-a-lifetime experiences to the community again, even though it might look a little different now,” Morrell said.
While most physicians’ offices and health providers never fully closed, many providers like Dr. Cady Brown, half of the husband-and-wife primary care team at Downtown Drs. Brown, have pivoted toward telehealth calls in recent weeks, in order to reduce the potential risk of COVID-19 exposure for their patients and staff.
Drs. Cady and Ryan Brown, the husband-and-wife primary care team at Downtown Drs. Brown, say telehealth will continue to be offered for patients when appropriate.
“We changed how we are evaluating patients,” Brown said. “We transitioned almost completely to telehealth, except for patients who had symptoms we found concerning for COVID-19, and those folks we’ve been testing in our parking lot.”
In the coming weeks, Brown expects to still prioritize telehealth calls whenever possible.
“I like to see my patients in person,” she said. “But the video conferences and talking over the phone and sending pictures has really worked well for us. In the near term, we plan to continue focusing on telehealth, particularly for patients who wouldn’t benefit from an in-person exam.”
As the office moves gradually toward opening more in-person services, Brown plans to carefully coordinate flow into and out of the office, so that patients do not overlap in the waiting room.
In general, she plans to continue focusing on social distancing, use of PPE, and hand washing in her practice — much like she hopes her patients continue to do in their daily interactions as more businesses and destinations begin to reopen.
“My big picture view of this, not just for our clinic, but for all of our daily living, is that keeping a distance of six-feet or further from others and using hand hygiene and PPE just increase in importance as we’re out more,” she said.