Last Friday, Governor Lee introduced the “Tennessee Pledge” as a blueprint for helping Tennesseans get back to work.
What the Plan Allows
The plan allowed restaurants to reopen their doors to seated dining at 50% capacity beginning on April 27 and retail businesses can to do the same thing beginning Wednesday, April 29 in 89 of Tennessee’s 95 counties (this includes Rutherford). Opening is contingent upon following CDC and OSHA guidelines, including continuing to practice social distancing of six feet, and hygiene rules like frequent hand washing and the wearing of face masks.
Hospitals are also being given the go-ahead to restart elective surgeries Friday, May 1.
Overview of Where We Are Currently
Part of the Tennessee Pledge packet is a general overview of the economic state of the state, and a case analysis overview of COVID-19. Economically, almost every sector has been hit, and some have been hit hard – like hospitality, manufacturing, retail, and health services. More than 15% of the workforce has applied for unemployment in the state.
Small businesses are still struggling with receiving any stimulus funding, although some dollars are starting to flow out, but as Pat Geho, State Executive Director Tennessee Small Business Development Center (TSBDC) said a few weeks ago, “This is massive layoffs and shutdowns that the infrastructure has not been there to handle. But we are ramping up to handle the situation… It takes time to build a perfect – or as perfect as possible – system to handle the volume, but time is our enemy right now.”
What Is Happening in Rutherford County
Last week the county’s mayors met to discuss the reopening of Rutherford County. The county and city office employees will be coming back to their offices slowly and at different times in the early part of May, but the lobbies will continue to be closed to the general public until further notice.
“Our community can help keep their families and neighbors safe by continuing to adhere to CDC guidelines and exercising personal responsibility,” said Mayor Mary Esther Reed. “Choose to be a patron of a business that is following Governor Lee’s Tennessee Pledge.”
Local business owners are taking the re-opening step-by-step.
The Platinum Mermaids, a recently opened vintage furniture, gift, and home goods store in Smyrna, has not been opened for a month. They are re-opening Friday, May 1, after rearranging the store to comply with the shopping guidelines.
“We’ve cleaned and re-arranged the store to maintain the six-foot distance,” said Platinum Mermaids co-owner, Michele Connelly. “We have placed hand sanitizer throughout the store. We will be wearing masks. And, weather permitting, we are going to have a lot of things outdoors.”
Others are choosing not to open right away, but to carefully contemplate their options, like Country Gourmet.
“We are still pondering what is the wisest move to keep our employees and customers safe,” said Karen Gerbman, co-owner of Country Gourmet.
“We have been ‘open’ all along,” said husband and co-owner, Chris Gerbman, “as we qualified as an essential business, but with no walk-in traffic. We’ve been doing curbside pickup from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., with shipping and delivery available. When we do open again for in-store traffic, we will have safety measures in place… It may be as soon as May 1, but we suggest that customers check our Facebook page or website to be sure.”
Jason Day of Red Bicycle Coffee and Crepes and his staff took Monday and Tuesday to get the restaurant’s dining room ready by washing all the dishes, disinfecting tables, and giving it an all-over deep cleaning. Then, they are going to open on Wednesday, April 29, at the fifty-percent occupancy, which is about 25 people. They also have a tent out front where they do drive thru dining, and they’re going to keep that going even with the open dining room.
“I think big picture we’ll be better for [the pandemic],” said Day. “It forced us to do some things we otherwise may not have done, like the tent and drive up service, getting online ordering almost ready to go, etc. And we did a dinner special that really saved us. Now, because of that success, we’re debuting a full dinner menu on Wednesday. We’ll serve it from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Monday through Sunday. So, our shop, while stressed financially, will be better for it in the big picture. The Safer at Home order forced us to adapt and do some new things that proved to work well.”
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