BOISE, Idaho — On Saturday, hair salons, indoor gyms, and restaurant dining rooms across the Gem State can begin to reopen. For many, it'll be for the first time in nearly eight weeks.
Gov. Brad Little laid out protocols for businesses to follow so they can open safely without causing a spike in COVID-19 cases. These protocols include being able to keep your distance, wearing face masks and gloves when distance can’t be met, sanitizing everything enough, and more.
The governor announced the state is moving to phase two in a press conference on Thursday. He also announced bars and nightclubs opening back up has been moved to stage three. Those weren't originally scheduled to open until stage four, or mid-June at the earliest.
When taking questions, the governor said the science backed up the decision to start the next phase and credited Idaho’s success in lowering the number of new cases and flattening the curve. He also admitted it’s hard to tell the difference between a restaurant and a bar.
It's the same question several bar owners asked the governor's task force when Idaho’s reopening plan was introduced last month.
Rocci Johnson owns Humpin’ Hannah’s in downtown Boise and told KTVB she helped lead the charge to push for bars to reopen earlier.
“People are itching to get out,” she said. “We know what we need to be doing to be safe, we know what we need to be doing to be around others.”
Johnson met with other bar owners in Boise to make their case to the state to reopen earlier than phase four.
“We put together a list of criteria,” she said. “That we felt we could put forth to show we're just as responsible as salon owners, restaurant owners, and other industries affected by the phases reopening as well.”
In fact, she said a large part of the argument for bars is that restaurants get to open up on Saturday.
“Why put bars and nightclubs in phase four, when restaurants you have to be able to take off a mask in a restaurant in order to eat?” she asked.
Governor Little and his task force seemed to agree. Along with the sentiment of personal responsibility though, Little’s task force also had to rely on science.
“Our success in making sure the number of incidences that our healthcare capacity, our ICU capacity,” he said. “I would rather loosen it up than tighten it up. I wanted to give everyone as much certainty as we possibly can and that’s a good reason.”
While bars got the green light to start planning to open up earlier, Johnson knows things will not be the same in bars for the time being.
“We're going to be at 50% capacity, we will allow for social distancing in how we serve our beverages,” she said. “The safety of our staff and customers will be upmost at the top of our list.”
Humpin' Hannah’s dance floor will also not be reopening when the bar does. Johnson told KTVB that a dance floor will lead people to congregate and said it’s hard to social distance while dancing around other people.
The staff will also be watching customers and making sure they behave. Johnson said this isn’t that different from what they were already doing pre-pandemic.
“Our staff is largely already trained to do so,” she said. “So, we're fortunate in that regard to already be in that position where our security staff, our bartenders, all of our wait staff are capable of monitoring the well-being of our customers.”
Employees at Hannah’s will be wearing masks and gloves for the time being. If a customer appears to be sick, they could be kicked out of the business altogether.
“We want our customers and our guests to feel safe and feel welcome,” Johnson said. “And come in and have a beverage and not have to worry about their health or the health of their loved ones.”
The state hasn’t listed specific protocols for bars to follow to reopen in phase three. Johnson told KTVB the state is working on them but one thing she knows the state wants bars and night clubs to try and direct people in the business.
One thing Hannah’s will not be doing is taking the temperature of people before they come in. Johnson said she doesn’t want to step on any privacy concerns.
“We feel that it might be a HIPAA violation to do so,” she said.
Meanwhile, Johnson and other bar owners across the state will begin working on their plans to safely reopen on May 30 at the earliest.
“Be safe and well until then and do all the things you need to be doing,” Johnson said. “Let’s put this thing to bed, let's kick corona to the curb.”