HANCOCK COUNTY — Businesses have begun reopening their doors, and customers are starting to browse shelves that hold something other than groceries for the first time in almost two months.
After weeks of hunkering down somewhat loosened COVID-19’s grip across most of Indiana, certain activities resumed this week.
But there are still plenty of measures to take to ensure the novel coronavirus doesn’t come roaring back, local health experts stress. It’s also a long way to go before life returns to the way it was.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryMeanwhile, another death in Hancock County was reported in figures released early Tuesday, May 5.
Stage 2 of Indiana’s five-stage Back on Track plan, which began Monday, allows for retail and commercial businesses shuttered by past COVID-19 executive orders to reopen. You can read the full list of guidelines and timelines at the state’s new site: www.backontrack.in.gov.
Local goverments are allowed to impose more restrictive guidelines than the state. But the Hancock County Commissioners are moving in step with state guidelines: They voted at their meeting on Tuesday, May 5, to lift the orange travel advisory in which only essential travel was permitted.
Most county employees have returned to work, and the commissioners voted to schedule next Monday, May 11, as the date to re-open county offices to the public. The commissioners are working with Hancock Health to create guidelines for the best workplace safety practices — what personal protective equipment should be worn, how long employees should wait to return to work after feeling ill or after a COVID-19 diagnosis, and other provisions — that will be provided to department heads.
The commissioners said they currently have a sufficient supply of personal protective equipment.
“We have enough on hand and enough in the pipeline,” Commissioner John Jessup said.
County Recorder Marcia Moore said there were plenty of cloth masks and hand sanitizer available in her office, which had also taken steps to make room for members of the public to remain at least 6 feet apart when visiting.
“We’re not really having any issues at all, and I don’t foresee any, honestly,” Moore said.
County government meetings will continue to limit the number of people in attendance, in accordance with state guidelines, to 25 people or fewer.
In county offices, both employees and members of the public will be strongly urged to wear masks, but the commissioners stopped short of adopting language that would require them to do so, saying this could be a violation of constitutional rights.
“At the end of the day, the department heads and the employees are going to have to take some personal responsibility,” Commissioner Brad Armstrong said.
Meanwhile, many local businesses are also aiming to operate as close to normally as possible while observing required safety measures.
Cynthia’s Hallmark in Greenfield was open for business again starting on Monday, May 4, and had called all of its furloughed employees back to work. Owner Kelley Holden said the store’s interior was large enough that she did not anticipate having any problems maintaining social distancing.
“We were ready to be open. We’ve been dying to be open,” Holden said.
The Hallmark franchise location, like other stores that do not sell food, medicine and other “necessities of life,” was considered a non-essential retailer. Such businesses are now permitted to operate at 50% of their capacity, according to Gov. Eric Holcomb’s latest executive order.
Shoppers had begun returning to the store early on Monday afternoon. Some customers in the store wore masks, but others didn’t. Customer Suellen Gibson said she was not concerned about contracting COVID-19.
“We need safety, but we also need our freedom,” she said.
Holden said she felt comfortable with the safety of her employees and customers. Within the store, employees wore masks. A plastic panel separates shoppers from cashiers, and signs posted throughout the building remind patrons to observe social distancing.
If someone tries on a piece of clothing but opts not to buy it, employees return it to the back of the store for 48 hours before it is placed back on the floor. The CDC says COVID-19 can remain active on a surface for “hours to days.”
Holden acknowledged, however, that there is no real way to track which items customers are picking up and then putting back down.
“There’s nothing really we can do about that,” Holden said. “But we’re very conscious about not taking returns right now.”
The owners of J.W. Riley Emporium and Antiques chose to reopen their store as well. The store rents out space to antique dealers, who also sometimes work off their rent payments by manning the cash register.
Amber Kuhn, one of the store’s owners, said the closure of retail businesses had an impact on the finances of both owners and renters.
“We tried to apply for the small business loans and everything, but that didn’t work. It just didn’t trickle down as far as us. The business works because we sell for all our dealers, so not being open, it put us in a bind because we charge for the booth space, and they make their booth rent by selling. Everything was kind of at a standstill. We gave a credit for a couple of weeks that we were off, but our overhead bills keep rolling in, so it put us in a really tough spot,” Kuhn said. “We were excited at the ability to be open, because there’s no money to be made if the doors are closed.”
Like other businesses, the Riley Emporium is taking steps to be as safe as possible by utilizing personal protective equipment and asking shoppers to maintain social distancing. Kuhn said she thought Gov. Eric Holcomb’s decision to gradually re-open the state economy was the right one.
“It seems like there’s got to be a balance between health and the continuing of the economy. We represent a lot of small businesses through our booth sales,” she said.
Hometown Comics has been allowing for curbside pickup and delivery of its products but re-opened for in-store customers on Monday. Staff members are all wearing masks, and customers are asked to wear masks as well and to stay home if they’ve been sick.
The store was able to continue paying all of its regular employees, but owner Frances Hull said it was good to be able to open their doors again.
“Our game rooms are closed, so that cuts down a lot of our traffic, but it allows us to continue to serve our community,” Hull said. “We’ve had a nice little steady stream (of customers) but nothing overwhelming, so we still just have a few people in the store at any given time, but nothing overwhelming. Which is good, because I would have to tell people to wait.”
Craig Felty, vice president, chief nursing officer and chief operating officer of Hancock Regional Hospital, said the state’s Back on Track plan is very similar to one the hospital devised for the county.
“We think it’s all extremely reasonable,” Felty said. “We appreciate the governor and the work he has done throughout this whole thing. He just really has been a rock throughout this whole ordeal. He’s done a really good job with his team putting together this staged reopening, and hopefully we can get some of the economy going again in the county and still manage those social distancing characteristics that we know are so important.”
As people head back out to places they haven’t been able to visit in weeks, Felty encourages them to behave the same way they’ve been instructed throughout the pandemic when leaving home. That means wearing a face covering, keeping at least 6 feet away from others, using hand sanitizer often and refraining from touching their faces.
Other than masks specifically designed for filtering air, face coverings don’t do much as far as keeping outside particles like the kind that spread COVID-19 at bay. They are helpful, however, for keeping wearers from spreading what they may have underneath the mask. Wearing one also encourages others to do the same, Felty said.
“It sends a message that we want them to wear a mask too, and on, and on, and on,” he added. “And that’s what’s going to help us get through this.”
Another Hancock County resident has died from COVID-19, the Indiana State Department of Health reported Tuesday, raising the county’s death toll from the disease to 12. Felty said the resident was a patient at Hancock Regional Hospital and was in the 60-70 age group.
Hancock County also recorded two more positive cases Tuesday, bringing that total to 233. Total COVID-19 tests for which results have been received for county residents stood at 1,914, 45 more than the day before.
Steve Long, president and CEO of Hancock Health and Hancock Regional Hospital, said in a video posted to the hospital’s website on April 26 that he expects a “new normal” to last 12 to 18 months, until a COVID-19 vaccine is able to be created and mass produced. During that time, he envisions hospitals resuming activities but with empty waiting rooms, limited visitation and protected supplies in case of a COVID-19 surge. Workplaces will likely be re-engineered, he continued, adding he has doubts about mass gatherings and is certain isolation will continue for the elderly and those with chronic medical conditions.
“As things open back up, remember the virus is not gone,” Long said. “It is here, and it is infectious. So that part hasn’t changed. But the predictable, steady growth and number of people that have the disease mean we can be prepared for it and we can begin to reopen society. It’s going to be different, again, but we can get back to some semblance of where we were.”
As guidelines change, he urges people to follow the spirit of the law, not the letter.
“I don’t think that means that we all just need to go out and party,” Long said. “We really need to think about it. Is it something that we really need to do? And if you have a choice, make the choice that’s safe. Our individual choices are going to decide what happens in the future and whether we have spikes in this disease again. None of us want that.
“We’re going to get through this,” he continued. “We’re going to get to the end, we’re going to ride it out until we get the vaccine. We’ll get back to normal.”
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Another person in Hancock County has died of complications from COVID-19, bringing the county’s total to 12 as of early Tuesday, May 5. Here are the latest statistics:
- 233 positive cases
- 12 deaths
- 1,914 tests
Indiana
- 21,033 positive cases
- 1,213 deaths
- 115,834 tests
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