Coronavirus: Logan County gives a glimpse of the new normal as businesses prepare to reopen

Business owners and operators throughout Ohio are thinking about how the atmosphere will be at their workplaces when Gov. Mike DeWine begins to release restrictions on May 1.

DeWine, state officials and health experts have warned consistently that things won’t be as they were before the coronavirus pandemic.

Workers and management at the year-old Club Oceano Seafood and Bar at The Greene are living the new normal.

“We’ve worn gloves, masks, always keep you distance now,” Pierson Davis, an employee, told News Center 7′s Sean Cudahy on Wednesday night. “We started getting regulars coming in. To see them not come in any more, I guess I’m heartbroken.”

Soon, Club Oceano and other businesses can expect to adhere to a new set of rules in the new normal.

A glimpse of the new normal emerged in Logan County, where the county health district, in a memo posted to Facebook on Wednesday, issued a one-page memo to all businesses in the county called “Economic Recovery Instructions to Reopen and Operate a Business."

In it, county Health Commissioner Boyd Hoddinott, M.D., lists rules for businesses regarding social distancing and uniforms. Among the LCHD rules:

• Indoor spaces must limit the total number of people at one time
• Elderly and vulnerable customers should have separate operating hours for their added protection
• Every store shall prominently display at every entrance their ‘COVID-19 Maximum Occupancy’ number
• Ill individuals and those living with persons that have COVID-19 (by a positive test) must stay home

There are additional rules for workers who have contact with customers: They must wear a mask, which can be handmade cloth or bandannas or handkerchiefs. For small operators not working in a building, workers will be expected to wear masks when traveling in the same vehicle. They also will be expected to sanitize shared equipment and vehicles used by different employees.

Businesses will be required to submit a one-page request to the LCHD describing how the public health concerns in the memo will be addressed. And lastly, businesses also must submit a diagram to determine the “COVID-19 maximum occupancy” for interior spaces where employees must interact with customers.

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