Lexington’s reopening plan headed to Gov. Beshear by May 18. What it will include.
Leaders from Lexington’s business, tourism, restaurant, education and faith communities are drafting industry-specific plans to restart Lexington’s economy.
The goal of the COVID-19 Economic Response Committee, appointed by Mayor Linda Gorton, is to have those plans to Gov. Andy Beshear by May 18 for his approval.
“What we will be putting together will be a blueprint for restarting Lexington’s economy,” Gorton told the members of the COVID-19 Economic Response Committee at its first meeting on Monday.
The Lexington group will be divided into several subcommittees to draft reopening guidelines for restaurants, hotels, professional businesses, healthcare, education, college and high school sports, agriculture, equine industries and nonprofits and arts groups.
On Monday, Gorton charged those subcommittee chairs with coming up with reopening plans that follow Gov. Beshear’s Healthy at Work guidelines, which encourage social distancing and reducing face-to-face and in-person contact to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Gov. Beshear recently unveiled plans for some businesses including construction, manufacturing, dog grooming and car dealerships by May 11. By May 20, other businesses including non-essential retail and houses of worship will reopen.
In addition, various healthcare offices and procedures started opening last week. Other healthcare-related services that were suspended during the coronavirus outbreak will continue to come back online throughout the month of May.
Fayette County Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kraig Humbaugh shared some of Beshear’s Healthy at Work guidelines that subcommittees will have to address. Those include face masks for employees, the ability to monitor employee temperatures and health, ensuring work spaces are reconfigured to ensure people are not in close contact, eliminating break rooms and other common gathering places and making sure people have the ability to wash hands frequently.
“Be aware and be vigilant that people can find other places to congregate even if you shut down break rooms. People can congregate in cars or in parking lots or outside,” Humbaugh cautioned.
Remove seating from conference rooms to make sure people are spaced six-feet apart. People who can telecommute should continue to do so if possible, he said.
“Consider block scheduling,” Humbaugh said. That way if one employee tests positive for COVID-19, the entire office does not have to self-isolate. Individual business should also have a plan if an employee tests positive and a way to trace that person’s contacts, he said.
Gorton stressed that plans for professional offices spaces such as a lawyer’s office and those for the restaurant industry will look very different. But reopening plans should address both employee and client safety.
Gale Reece, who is chairing a subcommittee for nonprofits and the arts community, said she is concerned that without child care, few employees will be able to return to work.
“Until we tackle the childcare issue, I don’t know where to start,” Reece said.
Gorton said she understood those concerns. She has similar reservations. Gorton said the Beshear administration is working hard to figure out how to reopen childcare centers safely. But those guidelines likely won’t be available until June at the earliest. Lexington needs to get its plans to the governor before that, she said.
The subcommittees must work quickly, she said. “Do not make this complicated. Make it common sense” but specific to the industry the subcommittees are tackling, she said. Lexington’s plans could be used to help other industries open across the state, she said.
Drafts will be due to Gorton’s office by May 15 with the goal of delivering Lexington’s blueprint to reopen to the governor’s office by May 18, she said.
The subcommittees include:
- Government and economic development
- Education
- Professional Services, Finance, Business Industry and Services
- Entrepreneur, Small Business and Technology
- Healthcare
- Agriculture and Equine
- Non-profit, Arts and Culture
- Faith based
- Restaurants and Bars
- Hotels and Convention Centers
- Airport, Transportation and Cargo
- Retailers
- Tourism Attractions
- Distillery and Craft Beer
- Equine Tourism
- University and high school athletics
This story was originally published May 5, 2020 at 10:15 AM.
