Wednesday COVID Update: Restaurants may reopen dining rooms May 11th; $15M grant program to help

Here are some Key Notes, Statistics, and Video for Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson’s news update on the COVID-19 pandemic. Governor Hutchinson welcomed Mike Preston, Secretary of Commerce; Steuart Walton, entrepreneur and Chairman of the Economic Recovery Task Force; and Dr. Nate Smith, State Secretary of Health.

: New cases by day, including correctional facilities

: 7-day rolling average of new cases

: Currently hospitalized, by day

The Governor displayed the usual charts to show how cases and hospitalizations are progressing. He then announced that as of Monday May 11th, Arkansas restaurants will be allowed to resume dining room service, with some restrictions, and there is a new grant program to help businesses reopen.

RESTRICTIONS FOR DINING INSIDE RESTAURANTS:

Customers must wear face coverings until after ordering.
Staff must wear masks and gloves.
There must be daily staff screenings.
There must be frequent hand-washing.
The dining room must observe social distancing and limit the number of customers to 33% of maximum occupancy.
There must be physical distance in between patrons and tables.
There can be no groups over 10 people dining together.
There can be no self-service.
Tables and menus must be cleaned/disinfected after each meal.
Bars and entertainment within restaurants is still prohibited.
Bar service will be allowed at tables in restaurants, but bar seating for congregating will not be allowed.
Restaurants may continue to do carry-out service for beer and wine.
Outdoor seating observes the same guidelines as indoor.
Restaurants can deny service if a patron will not wear a mask or does not pass screening.
Special hours for senior citizens are encouraged.
Reservations are encouraged.
Customers should pre-order when possible.

In response to a reporter’s question about cooperation of Mayors in the state, the Governor said his directions supersedes a mayor’s wishes on this direction, but that governors have been very cooperative. “It’s important that our state move in harmony,” said Hutchinson, “but from Texarkana to Jonesboro, I’ve had good feedback on what we’re doing.”

Hutchinson said that Phase Two of reopening will be to increase capacity to 66% of maximum occupancy while maintaining physical distance. Phase Three will be the return to normal operations.

Dr. Smith gave additional instruction regarding PPE for restaurant workers. He said they don’t need the same type of protection as hospital workers, and they do not need an N95 mask, but a cloth face covering or paper disposable masks are adequate.

He went on to give instructions about wearing gloves. “Just because you have a glove on, doesn’t mean you forget about hand washing and changing those gloves. If you put a glove on and then you don’t change those gloves between people or touching different things, that’s not much better than just having your hands bare.” He said gloves need to be changed between customers or between contacts, or they can be washed. He summarized, saying restaurant employees should wash their hands or sanitize, or change gloves or wash the gloves between contact.

The direct link to apply for the program is www.arkansasedc.com/covid19resources/business-resources/ready-for-business-grant-program

The Governor announced a $15 million grant program called Arkansas Ready for Business. Because there will be some cost involved for PPE, cleaning supplies, etc., the Department of Commerce is presenting the program to help businesses reopen.

“It’s also to build consumer confidence. As you invest in safety and health, the consumers will have confidence.”

Companies (not just restaurants) may apply for up to $100,000 in assistance. The program is subject to the approval of the CARES Act Steering group and the Legislative Council.

Preston gave more detail on the Arkansas Ready for Business program, stressing that consumers need to feel confident and safe that they can come back and start buying again.

“If you think of these restaurants who maybe have been closed for a month or longer, they’re going to need to go into a deep cleaning process, they are going to need to have thermometers to be able to scan their employees, and to go through all the things to make sure they’re meeting the health guidelines that have been set forth. We wanted to make sure that as they were facing this, that they knew that they have a lifeline to the state.”

This is going to be a total of $15 million in grants to businesses. Businesses may apply beginning at 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 29, 2020. Visit the following link for guidelines in the application process: www.arkansasedc.com/covid19resources/business-resources/ready-for-business-grant-program.

Preston stated that the program is not just for restaurants. “Think about some other companies out there who are having to go through a lot of struggles as well. Maybe it’s a manufacturer who has to reconfigure their line, to set it up in a way that’s going to be socially distant. We want to make sure the funds are available to them.”

Walton gave an update on the progress with the Economic Recovery Task Force. “There’s a really good network of communications being deployed throughout the state, coordinating through the task force and liaising with the Department of Health in terms of coming up with some of these guidelines to help businesses, and then the [Community institutions] reopen in a safe way.”

He said they are developing guidelines for each industry. Walton recognized Montine McNulty (Arkansas Hospitality Association) as well as Secretary Stacy Hurst (Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism), both on the task force, for being very proactive. He said that the work of the task force will be posted to a website that’s under development.

“Some types of activities will take longer than others to normalize. And I think you’ll see that even if some of the first things that [reopen], whether it’s restaurants or salons or gyms, they’re going to be on a different schedule. We’re doing our best to be as specific as we can be, but the complexity of reopening an economy is surprising to me and it’s profound.”

He also said that there’s reason for optimism. “Arkansans I believe have an independent streak unlike just about any other state and it doesn’t really matter whether you’re from the north part of the state of the South part of the state. It’s a trait that runs through our our state and our culture. It breeds some entrepreneurial spirit that the state has in spades in my view. I think there will be opportunity for businesses in the normalization process.”

Walton stated in closing to remember this is not a competition against other states to be the first, but he’s confident Arkansas won’t be the last. “We have to make our decisions with our own sets of facts and circumstances that are particular to Arkansas. I think that ultimately the way to think about this is, it’s a competition against ourselves. It’s unlike a lot of competitions in that respect, but still we must move as quickly as we can as safely as we can.”

Dr. Nate Smith, State Secretary of Health listed the current statistics for COVID-19 patients below:

59 deaths, up 7
- ⅓ of deaths are from nursing homes
93 hospitalized, down 11
18 on a ventilator, down 2
3,192 cases, up 81
- All new cases are from the community
- No new cases are from correctional facilities
1,184 active cases, down 29
1,249 recovered, up 103
340 healthcare worker cases, up 7
219 nursing home resident cases, up 11
128 nursing home staff cases, up 13