Some businesses can open May 11, some never closed

By Dave Taylor

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has announced the dates for the slow reopening of the state’s economy and several of its business categories beginning on May 11, but it turns out that many of those businesses in Hancock County never really closed entirely anyway.
Beshear announced on April 29 that beginning on May 11 businesses in manufacturing, construction, vehicle and vessel dealerships, professional services at 50 percent of previous capacity, horse racing minus spectators, and pet grooming and boarding could reopen as long as they follow health guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Sylvie’s Pet Salon in Lewisport would be free to reopen, if it wasn’t already.
“I didn’t really shut down during this time,” said Megan Arison, who owns the business that offers pet grooming and boarding.
The guidance she’s been given for reopening on May 11 is what she’s already been doing.
“I do zero contact pickups and drop offs,” she said. “I just have them leave the dog in the lobby and have them leave and then I go in and get the dog and spray everything down with Lysol, is what I’ve been doing.”
And being the only one at the business, she didn’t have to worry about keeping her distance from other workers.
On May 11, not a lot will change for her.
“I mean it’s how it’s been,” she said. “I kind of jumped the gun and have taken it upon myself to just go ahead and open back up but still following guidelines and not being in contact with people and everything like that.”
The shutdown of most of the economy has hurt the boarding side of her business, since no one has been traveling to need her to keep their dogs.
But the grooming side hasn’t really faltered.
“People, they think that their dogs and their health and everything is essential,” she said.
She figures that some people didn’t come get grooming services because they might not have known she was open or might’ve been unable or unwilling to get out during the warnings to stay at home, but with the loosened restrictions she might see more business.
“I feel like people will probably start calling me more so, yes,” she said.
Beshear’s press release didn’t clarify what it meant by “professional services” but if it means tax preparation, May 11 won’t change much for H&R Block’s Hawesville location either.
“We’ve been open the whole time,” said Debbie Nichols, who owns the branch along with four others elsewhere.
“We’ve just been doing the social distancing and then we don’t let them come past about six feet into the door,” she said, “and then we set up a table to where they’re six feet from us when they’re leaving.”
They have made a big change in how they operate though.
“We’re doing drop-offs only, which is kind of different from what we normally do because we normally have people sit at our desk and interview them when we do the return,” she said.
When May 11 comes they’ll continue with what they’ve been doing, with one addition.
“On the 11th we’ll probably be wearing the masks,” she said. “We’ve been sanitizing and stuff like that but we’ll be wearing the masks. That’s the main thing that’s going to be different for us.”
Attorney B.J. Early seems like a professional who offers services, but he said he isn’t included in the category because attorneys were exempted. The good news there is he wasn’t required to close, but the bad news is he basically had to anyway and his reopening is much farther away than May 11.
“We never had to really close. We just closed because they closed the courthouse, so there was no reason for me to have regular hours,” he said.

 

Kentucky’s supreme court ordered most in-person court services to cease from April 1 through at least May 31, effectively halting most of Early’s workload.
“We were encouraged to work from home but it wasn’t mandatory, you know,” he said. “I got to work but I’m not seeing people in the office: one, because there’s no reason to; and two, there’s no court.”
“So it’s kind of been like a forced vacation,” he said. “I like vacations better when I’m the one that plans them.”
It’s not that he can’t do any lawyering, it’s just that the majority of it can’t be completed or is on some sort of hold.
“I could still e-file things,” he said. “So I could still do motions, petitions, things like that, and I could always e-file them with the clerk’s office.”
“The problem is I can’t get you a date,” he said. “All the dates I’m giving people are in June, July, August, things like that. So I could file, I could still do stuff, I just can’t tell you when it’s actually going to get heard before a judge.”
“My business dropped over 95 percent,” he said.
Even people who are picked up on criminal charges don’t need him yet because the courts are at a partial standstill.
“I do a lot of criminal cases. Well everybody got released. Everybody being arrested was just released because of the coronavirus,” he said. “So they’re like hey B.J. I don’t need you yet but I’m going to need you in July for my court date.”
Cases are expected to resume on June 1, when Early expects an enormous backlog.
“It’s going to be a nightmare,” he said. “I mean we’ve been shut down for about two months and it’s probably going to take three to four months just to get caught up.”
Hearings stopped but crimes didn’t, so the cases are stacking up.
“They’re getting arrested and they’re getting court dates,” he said. “So now those dates are competing with the dates that were reset, so now everybody’s fighting for a spot at the table.”
“It’s going to be long days,” Early said.
dave.hancockclarion
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Phase 1 Reopening:

May 11

     *Manufacturing

     *Construction

     *Auto Dealerships

     *Professional Services

     *Horse Racing (no fans)

     *Pet grooming, boarding

May 20

     *Retail

     *In-person Church Services

     *Both expected at reduced capacity

May 25

     *Social gatherings of 10 people or less

     *Barbers, Salons, etc.