Re-opening Kansas City Phase One (and this is hard): Take it slow
A sign at Mayor Quinton Lucas’ press conference outlined the parameters that will guide reopening businesses.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas
The eagerness passes the point of pain for so many.
Especially knowing many of our neighbors desperately want their jobs back. They want to be able to fill their cupboards, pay their rent.
Small businesses want to pay their employees, pay their bills, see their customers again.
The competing official declarations and the public health warnings have created a hall of mirrors as we try to find the right way out to recover lives that will never be the same again.
The hashtag to the KC chamber’s report
Today Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas outlined a careful, phased reopening, right after the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and partnering groups unveiled their advice — in three phases — on how it feels the KC area should reopen itself responsibly.
These first phases come with probably the hardest advice: Take it slow.
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While neighboring counties and statewide orders in Missouri and Kansas are relaxing stay-home orders as soon as May 4, Kansas City is holding strong to continuing its stay-home order until May 15, Lucas said.
The decision is based on public health advice, Lucas said, and part of the mayor’s defense of the order noted that Kansas City’s black community, like communities of color throughout the nation, is suffering an alarmingly high rate of infections and deaths from coronavirus.
“Some of us are gravely concerned about the black and brown community,” he said. “We will look out for the most vulnerable in our community throughout the crisis.”
The city is establishing its plan for May 15 and beyond with a still-developing guidance manual that will build on a set of “10s.”
Public businesses and gatherings can expect to be held either to 10 percent capacity, or to no more than 10 people, and if you serve people at any place for longer than 10 minutes, the city will require some log or registration system so that if an outbreak happens the health department can trace infections.
Some businesses that cannot observe social distancing, like salons and barber shops, will be required to make use of masks and gloves.
In all situations, the city will continue to call for safe social spacing. People will still be asked to reduce interactions or stay isolated. Employers will not be able to require anyone who feels unsafe to return to a workplace. And people who are vulnerable to infection will continue to be advised to shelter at home.
The KC chamber and its partners in creating the #SafeReturnKC report — the Kansas City Area Development Council, the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City, and the Mid-America Regional Council — have to navigate the varying reopening plans in the KC region.
In at least one way, the different plans are alike, said David Warm, the executive director of MARC.
“No matter what date (is in a jurisdiction’s reopening plan),” Warm said, “they say to open cautiously.”
Observe social distancing, take special precautions if you are vulnerable.
The civic leaders’ advice, which was also part of Lucas’ statement, insists that employers should listen to and protect their workers. No one should be compelled to return to a workplace if they don’t feel safe.
Where working at home is an option, businesses should continue that practice.
And another common agreement: Listen to and heed the warnings and advice that come from the Centers for Disease Control and local public health officials.
“We know this is a dynamic situation,” said Scott Hall, the KC chamber’s vice president for civic and community initiatives.
By Joe Robertson, LINC Writer