What will ‘reopening’ look like in Wichita area during the coronavirus pandemic?
When the Wichita area reopens businesses shuttered for the coronavirus threat, things will look a lot different than they did before the pandemic hit, according to an array of business leaders who spoke to Sedgwick County Commission on Friday.
The special commission meeting brought together leaders from the retail, restaurant, convention, entertainment, fitness, tourism and religion realms.
The clock is ticking on the commissioners, who are poised to set guidelines for businesses if Gov. Laura Kelly’s stay-at-home executive order is allowed to expire in the coming week.
“A week from today, as of now, there’s no rules,” Sedgwick County Commission Chair Pete Meitzner said Friday. “And so we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Meitzner called the business leaders’ input “incredibly valuable” for the commission as it works with public health officials to provide a roadmap for reopening.
The emergent consensus was that businesses and churches want to reopen as soon as they can, but also want county guidance to maintain safety and limit liability if clusters of coronavirus infections surface.
County commissioners were receptive to the suggestions offered Friday and are expected to hold another special meeting Tuesday discuss next steps.
“What happens when we do have an issue?” said Ron McMahon, CEO of the Greater Wichita YMCA. “How will we respond to that? Is that restaurant or place going to be singled out? And that place will not be able to come back if they get singled out.
“So can we jointly come together as a community and say ‘We’re all in this together’ in some way? I think the county can take some leadership in that.”
Industry by industry, here’s a look at what to expect when Wichita and Sedgwick County businesses do start coming back on line.
Entertainment and concerts
Entertainment promoter Adam Hartke told the commission he thinks it will be a year to 18 months before that industry can get back to putting on shows.
Hartke operates the Cotillion and Wave venues and contracts with Wichita City Hall to handle entertainment and alcohol sales at the recently renovated Naftzger Park.
“You know, Cotillion and Wave, operating at 50, 100, 200 people, isn’t really that advantageous to us,” he said. “Our money’s made on events with 1,000-plus people.”
With crowds that big, it’s practically impossible to keep the kind of spacing that can be enforced in restaurants or stores, he said.
“When you’re standing in a room at the Cotillion, how are you going to police that?” he said. “You can’t logically expect just because you say you’re going to have social distancing space around a person that they’re going to adhere to it. We’ve all seen the groups of people gathering downtown during a shelter-in-place (order). We’ve seen people partying.”
He said “there’s only so much we can do” in terms of social distancing.
“We can say we’re doing it, but you know, the reality is that it’s not going to happen,” he said. “We don’t want to see another spike and have to shut down everything again.”
He said the industry is lobbying for national guidelines because no one wants the liability of opening under their own plan. Also, performers and fans come from all over the U.S. and even from other countries.
“We route tours from city to city, so if there’s a hot spot in Kansas City or Denver or Dallas, even the coasts, tours aren’t going to go out,” he said. Entertainers “are not going to want to jump on a tour bus with 12 other people and hang out for six months going city to city.”
Church, faith community
Bringing a congregation back together is going to be a challenge, said evangelist and Christian speaker Michelle Vann, representing the Greater Wichita Ministerial League.
One of the problems will be how to open the churches while protecting vulnerable populations, especially the elderly, she said.
“A lot of our churches obviously have a lot of seniors,” Vann said. “How do we prepare going forward, making sure our older parishioners are not integrated back in immediately?”
She suggested that congregants may have to wear protective masks or undergo fever screening at the church door. Also, church pews that can’t be moved present some difficulties.
“We know that churches have been the hotspots for COVID cases,” she said. “And so we don’t want that to be a Wichita issue. It’s in Kansas City, it’s been other places and so we don’t want to be that spot.
“So that’s really what we’re looking at . . . what exactly are going to be the guidelines as we move forward, making sure that we are keeping our people safe, but also providing them that mental and spiritual guidance and help through what is a very difficult time.”
For much of the pandemic, religion has been a central issue at the state level after Gov. Laura Kelly set a limit of 10 people in public gatherings, including church services.
That touched off two court cases alleging constitutional rights infringement. Kelly won at the state Supreme Court but lost a federal district court case.
Restaurants and bars
When restaurants and bars reopen to indoor service, they’ll likely be limited on the number of people allowed inside.
Restaurant owners said they’re willing to close off some portions and rearrange tables to create more social distancing.
“The restaurant industry feels strongly about the 50% occupancy thing,” Meitzner said.
Restaurant owners told county leaders Friday the acceptable crowd size at restaurants and bars should be equal to 50% of the establishment’s occupancy limit, plus workers.
“When you look at the base percentage of most restaurants, it’s going to be a lot less people than you think,” said Scott Redler, co-founder of Freddy’s Frozen Custard.
Redler said some carryout restaurants may have maximum occupancy levels around 12. If you cut that to six, and after accounting for four employees, that would mean the restaurant could only have two customers inside. That’s why he’s in favor of restaurant staff not counting towards the 50%, he said.
“So this is kind of a one-size fits all,” he said.
John Arnold, part owner of Greystone Restaurant, said restaurants should commit to maintaining social distancing standards and all employees should comply with a health check when they come on shift.
All tables should be at least 6 feet apart unless they have physical barriers between them, he said.
“We’re recommending right now that all staff wear gloves . . . masks will be optional. The ordering lines will be clearly marked to promote social distancing,” Arnold said.
“No self-serving foods, such as toppings bars or buffets will be available. Condiments will be available at request only,” he said.
Jen Ray, owner of the Monarch in Delano, said her restaurant and bar could be ready to reopen quickly.
“I think I stand with most other people on this call — my world is not great right now,” Ray said.
“It’s easy to control the amount of people that we let in our doors based on the amount of seating that we allow,” Ray said. “And if we come up with a safe and effective way to reopen parts of our restaurants, I think that it is a doable plan within the next couple weeks.”
Hotels and tourism in Wichita
Wichita’s travel and tourism industry has taken a big hit during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before it can rebound, travelers need to feel confident that Wichita is a safe destination, said Susie Santo, president and CEO of Visit Wichita, the city’s convention and visitors bureau.
To do that, the county has to improve its testing, she said.
“Adequate testing allows us to be able to communicate confidently that Wichita is open,” Santo said.
“Those clear guidelines are going to be critical to show the (business) patrons that their protocols are not arbitrary,” she said, speaking on behalf of hoteliers.
“That could be a PR nightmare — if you’re too lenient or too strict,” Santo said.
“I also heard in spades just a strong desire to keep their employees safe. And really the desire to err on the side of caution . . . go very slow, very calculated, very steady, because the ramifications, if the site becomes, you know, a (coronavirus) cluster, are significant.”
“While it’s impacted industries across the board, specifically travel and tourism have been extremely hard hit,” Santo said. “(Those industries are) some of the first to close and anticipating some of the last to reopen.”
Santo said Wichita’s hotels are likely to change the way they operate.
“Some of the hotels that are already opened have already implemented significant social distancing protocols, everything from Plexiglass at the check-in to a 24-hour wait period before rooms are being cleaned to restrictions on elevators,” Santo said.
Retail businesses
Many large retailers, such as Walmart and Target, have remained open during the pandemic and have implemented their own social distancing guidelines.
But most have been deemed nonessential and have been forced to close by the stay-at-home order.
Stephanie Satrape, general manager of Towne East Square, told county leaders that retailers may have to take different approaches based on store sizes.
But Towne East won’t look much different from a total occupancy standpoint.
“We’ll be limiting the mall’s occupancy to 50-square-foot per person,” Satrape said. “And we’ll be closing touch points such as drinking fountains, play areas (and) product sampling.”
“We’re kind of in a position where our building is so large that 50 square feet (per person) would still put us at unheard of occupancy for our building.”
Under that restriction, Towne East could hold around 19,000 — “and we have never in history had that many people,” she said.
She said the mall will leave most internal occupancy level monitoring to individual shops and there will be occupancy limits “in small spaces such as restrooms and elevators.”
Hours would also be limited from what they were before the pandemic.
“It really seems like tenants are being innovative with this,” she said. “And I think everyone wants to protect their teams and customers as much as possible.”
Health, fitness centers
Throughout the pandemic, it’s been hard to work up a good sweat.
And there will need to be significant changes at health and fitness establishments when they start coming back on line, said McMahon, the CEO of the Greater Wichita YMCA.
Fitness facilities are a special challenge because the business model relies on rows of people exercising in close proximity or playing sports that require closer contact than social distancing guidelines allow.
“We have been looking . . . at all the different scenarios in terms of modified hours, in terms of how do we enhance our cleaning to keep it safe, can we do interactions at the Y, how do we do that?” he said. “We are looking at masks and gloves and some of those things. We’re having a little bit of trouble with getting supplies and we’re really concerned about even if we get the initial supplies, will we be able to sustain that level of supplies.”
McMahon advocates for consistent guidelines that would apply to the YMCA and for-profit health clubs.
“Some standards on those things would be super helpful,” he said. “I think the hardest thing is if we are doing it one way and others are doing another way and there’s not communication on that, that’s going to be a problem for us, and I think across our community.”
McMahon said YMCAs have consulted with their counterparts in China, where the virus started and has largely run its course.
“Their advice to us was, ‘Do not open too soon. Because if you do and you have a problem, it’s, it’s so much longer to come back from that,’” he said.
With its buildings closed, the YMCA has suspended the collection of dues that pay for fitness operations and charitable functions such as child care and recreation programs.
“We do not want to charge anybody until we can actually provide a full service,” McMahon said. “So opening up before and having a partial open for us may not be as helpful.
“Whatever those numbers are, they’re so much smaller — that’s going to be a harder thing to keep open and pay for all that.”
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the recommended occupancy level at restaurants as 50% of regular occupancy, including staff. It’s 50%, plus staff. John Arnold is no longer managing partner at Redrock Canyon Grill.
This story was originally published April 25, 2020 at 3:55 PM.
