AP: Amid anxiety, Georgia lets close-contact businesses reopen

RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Some salons, gyms and other close-contact services in Georgia prepared to open Friday as the Republican governor eased a month-long shutdown amid experts’ warnings of a potential new surge in coronavirus infections and a potent objection from President Donald Trump.

With deaths and infections still rising in Georgia, many business owners planned to remain closed in spite of Gov. Brian Kemp’s assurance that hospital visits and new cases have leveled off enough for barbers, tattoo artists, massage therapists and personal trainers to return to work with restrictions.

AP
Chairs are stacked on top of tables, seen through the front windows of Minori’s Italian Ristorante, which reflec the Forsyth County Courthouse across the street Wednesday, April 22, 2020, in Forsyth, Ga. The Monroe County Commission recently voted to urge Gov. Brian Kemp and President Donald Trump to begin reopening the economy by the end of the month, becoming one of the first local Georgia governments to formally demand a speedier end to coronavirus restrictions. On Friday, elective medical procedures may resume in Georgia, and barbershops, nail salons and gyms will reopen with restrictions. Limited in-restaurant dining will resume Monday. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

David Huynh had 60 clients booked for appointments Friday at his nail salon in Savannah. He said that’s less than half the customers he would normally see. But he’s also starting back with fewer nail technicians to allow for empty work stations between them.

Huynh’s business, Envy Nail Bar, has been closed since March 26. But the losses extend beyond just the month he’s been shut down.

“We lost graduations, proms and weddings,” Huynh said. “Already I see stores closing down permanently. … A lot of people don’t realize, if the nation stays shut down any longer, there will be severe consequences.”

Kemp’s order allowing certain businesses to reopen Friday requires precautions such as screening customers for potential symptoms, providing staff with masks and other protective gear as available and doing frequent cleaning.

The governor has said it’s imperative to begin easing his state’s economic suffering. The Georgia Department of Labor announced Thursday that 1.1 million workers — about one-fifth of the state’s workforce — filed for unemployment in the five weeks since the crisis started.

AP
Brian Lambert, owner of Scoops, a coffee and sweets shop, opens up the windows of his business across the street from the Forsyth Courthouse as he gets ready to reopen next week, Wednesday, April 22, 2020, in Forsyth, Ga. The Monroe County Commission recently voted to urge Gov. Brian Kemp and President Donald Trump to begin reopening the economy by the end of the month, becoming one of the first local Georgia governments to formally demand a speedier end to coronavirus restrictions. Lambert, who started the business last May, said it was make or break time for him and is anxious to get back to work on Monday, the first day he is allowed to. (Curtis Compton/tlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Public health experts have warned that reopening too quickly could trigger a coronavirus resurgence. Preventing that will require increased testing and robust tracking of infected people’s contacts. Georgia has ranked in the bottom 10 of states for testing per capita. But the state is showing progress. Georgia on Thursday reported 7,000 new tests, its highest daily total yet.

Kemp’s timeline to restart the economy proved too ambitious even for Trump, who said Wednesday he “disagreed strongly” with the fellow Republican’s plan.

Shannon Pengitore, a massage therapist in Marietta outside Atlanta, had a few clients ask for appointments this week. But she’s not ready, saying she hasn’t seen clear protocols from the state for protecting herself and her clients.

“Massage therapy is continual contact with the customer for long periods of time in a small room,” Pengitore said. “If I’m not really comfortable with this, what’s getting transmitted to them? It’s a lot of anxiety.”

Starting Monday, Georgia will allow movie theaters to reopen and restaurants to resume dine-in service — as long as customers are kept at a distance.

Chef Hugh Acheson, who owns three fine-dining restaurants in Athens and Atlanta, said Georgia’s conducting too little testing to safely reopen. He also doubts it would be profitable.

“If I open up fine dining in midtown Atlanta and … 25 people show up to dinner because I’m brazen enough to do this, that’s not enough to make money and stay in business,” Acheson said.

AP
General manager David Hartley removes one dollar bills from the wall at the Boar’s Head Lounge in downtown Athens, Ga, on Thursday, April 16, 2020. The dollars are being removed and will go to staff after the bar closed to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The tradition of placing marked bills on the wall started back in 1997 when the bar opened. (Joshua L. Jones/Athens Banner-Herald via AP)

Bethany Farmer works at an Atlanta yoga studio and tends bar at a burger joint. She said neither has asked her to return yet, and that’s fine with her. She fears slow business would mean reduced wages, and the virus remains too much of a threat.

“I could be a carrier even if I don’t feel anything,” Farmer said. “I get worried about all the other people I would encounter.”

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Associated Press writer Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak.

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