The plan announced Friday by Alabama Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth provided the first detailed look at what health and sanitation guidelines might be required for small businesses to reopen in Alabama.
Those guidelines are still tentative, and have yet to be approved. They were released to the public today and were provided to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey as recommendations from a task force led by Ainsworth, state legislators and business leaders.
State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris has ordered non-essential businesses closed until May 1 to slow the spread of coronavirus in Alabama, but he and Ivey could amend that order based on these recommendations, or incorporate these suggestions into a new order that goes into effect after the old one expires.
Ivey released a statement Friday saying she did not plan to take any immediate actions based on the recommendations, and a doctor from the Alabama Department of Public Health said people need to stay at home and continue social distancing for now.
Read the full plan here to see how your business might reopen.
The plans vary according for each type of business -- from retail stores to dentists’ offices and hair salons -- but all of them include some type of enhanced sanitation and social distancing requirements. Some measures are required for certain types of businesses and not others.
Here are some of the recommendations that vary from business to business:
Masks and gloves -- The proposal would require employees at certain kinds of businesses wear masks and gloves to protect customers and themselves, and at other businesses, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is recommended or encouraged but not required.
Jewelry store employees would have to wear gloves but not masks. Restaurant workers could "wear masks at their discretion.”
Employees of businesses that require close contact with customers would be required to wear masks and gloves at all times. Usually, one mask per day would be allowed but often the employee would be required to wear fresh gloves for every customer. Barbers, hair stylists and nail salon technicians fall under this category.
Tattoo and body artists, and employees at waxing salons, and massage businesses “should wear a disposable lab-coat or protective gown.”
Real estate agents would also have to wear masks for house showings.
Employees at retail stores would be “allowed” to wear masks. Masks would be “encouraged” for retail shoppers, but not required.
Masks are also required for some construction crews working in close contact.
Employee or customer temperature checks -- Employers are instructed to send workers home who have a fever or other possible symptoms of coronavirus.
Many businesses, such as tattoo parlors and museums, would be required would be required to check employees’ temperatures daily when they begin their shifts as an extra precaution. For others, like restaurants, it would only be up to the employee to report when they have a fever.
Businesses requiring employee temperature checks under the plan also include waxing salons, nail salons, planetariums, childcare facilities and medical facilities like doctors’ offices, including dentists and optometrists.
For providers of non-emergency medical or dental services, the patients would also be given a temperature check before entering the facility and their procedure rescheduled if they have a fever or other symptoms of COVID.
The daily temperature checks would not be required for barbers, hair stylists, restaurant employees or other small businesses covered in the plan.
No waiting... rooms -- Most businesses that typically have waiting rooms would not allow customers to wait inside the store under this plan.
Barber shops, tattoo parlors, waxing salons, massage therapy centers are to completely close their waiting areas. All services are offered by appointment only, no walk-ins allowed. Customers are to wait in their cars until their turn. Nail and hair salons, pharmacies and medical facilities are not to provide magazines, books or other reading material for their patients/customers.
At restaurants, indoor or outdoor waiting areas must be marked so customers can maintain social distance, and one customer in a party may remain there until their table is ready. The rest of the party would be asked to wait in the car.
Medical facilities are urged to limit the number of people in waiting rooms as much as possible, such as the parent of a child patient or the caretaker of an older patient who requires assistance.
Designated safety employee -- The report also recommends certain businesses be required to have a dedicated employee during open hours whose primary role is to enforce the sanitation and social distancing guidelines and make sure that surfaces are sanitized, etc.
Businesses like retail stores, medical facilities, and gyms would be required to designate an employee for these roles. So would real estate agents and commercial construction sites. Restaurants, hair and nail salons would not.
Gaming facilities and museums would not be required to designate an employee to monitor hygiene, but “[a]ll employees will be educated and trained on best practices for sanitization.”
Testing is not in the plan -- The plan does not include specific recommendations that any employee be tested for COVID-19 who is not feeling symptoms. Most of the long-term mitigation strategies include regular testing of high-contact individuals even when healthy to prevent people from spreading the disease before they start showing symptoms.
Currently testing healthy workers is not part of the state’s small business plan.
Here are some related stories on Friday’s recommendations:
Alabama doctors offices open up in May, plan recommends
As Alabama looks to reopen, state health official says people need to stay home
‘Is it safe?’ Uncertainty looms despite proposal to reopen Alabama salons, tattoo shops
Could youth sports really resume in Alabama on May 11?
Small businesses optimistic with recommendations to re-open; caution urged