Two Kentucky mayors submit plans to Beshear for re-opening their local economies
The mayors of two rural Kentucky cities, Somerset and Prestonsburg, wrote letters to Gov. Andy Beshear last week proposing plans to gradually re-open their economies under the supervision of local officials.
The letters come as Beshear has begun to discuss the state’s potential for re-opening during his daily press conferences, and as he calls on business associations and boards to submit their plans as restrictions on social distancing relax.
Prestonsburg Mayor Les Stapleton and Somerset Mayor Alan Keck both said the letters were not a criticism of Beshear, but rather an extended hand of cooperation as local officials grapple with the same question as the state: When should businesses open, and how can they do it safely?
The mayors’ letters gave different answers to that question, and Stapleton said he wouldn’t want to re-open any of the businesses that are currently closed until he saw a substantial decline in the number or rate of cases.
“I don’t think now’s the right time, but I don’t believe we’re far from it,” he said.
Beshear has said the prevalence of the virus must decline for 14 days, a standard suggested by the White House, before the state begins relaxing its social distancing controls. That could be measured as a decline in the number of cases or a decline in the rate of new cases.
As testing expands — officials hope to test 4,000 new patients over the next three days in Somerset, Paducah, Madisonville and Pikeville — the number of newfound cases will likely increase, but the rate of positive cases could still flatten or taper off more quickly.
Kentucky has conducted about 30,000 tests since the beginning of the outbreak, with 3,000 positive cases and 154 deaths as of Monday.
The Prestonsburg re-opening plan
Stapleton did not say for exactly how long he’d want to see a decline before re-opening some businesses, but laid out detailed plans for how much traffic he would want to see at varying types of businesses, including retail, gyms, restaurants and bars, and face-to-face businesses such as salons, chiropractors and tattoo artists.
He suggests opening face-to-face service businesses at a rate of one person per worker. Clients would be required to wait in their cars, rather than the waiting room, and workers would be required to wear face masks during the entire visit.
Gyms would be opened under a 50 percent occupancy guideline, and would also encourage the use of personal protective equipment.
Stapleton said mayors and health officials of small cities are more capable of monitoring proper social distancing protocol because there are fewer shops and businesses to survey. In Prestonsburg, many of the city’s elderly residents are already cautious, and would likely follow any guidelines set by the city, he said.
“(The letter) is a suggestion to allow us to help him get on track,” he said.
Eastern Kentucky has yet to see the same number or rate of cases as the state’s urban areas. No county in the east has more than a half dozen cases, though that could change this week as testing at Pikeville’s drive-thru testing center brings in new patients.
During meetings with the Pike County Fiscal Court, Dr. Fadi Al Akhrass, an infectious disease expert with Pikeville Medical Center, said Eastern Kentucky’s peak could come several weeks after the peak in urban areas. The disease could also be more deadly in Eastern Kentucky because of high rates of comorbidity diseases, such as diabetes and COPD, he said.
‘Gravely concerned’
Keck, the Somerset mayor, said in his letter to Beshear that he was grateful for the governor’s leadership and supportive of the statewide efforts to halt the spread of COVID-19.
As a business owner and father of three young girls, “I am also gravely concerned about every Kentuckian’s future,” he said.
Keck said mayors, with their close relationships to their communities, will likely prove a valuable asset for state officials as social distancing rules are gradually scaled back.
“At the end of the day, we’re going to be the ones to administer whatever he sends down,” Keck said.
Keck said he would like to see chiropractors in Somerset open immediately, but would wait until May 4 for hair salons, barbers, dentists and other businesses that can see a single client at a time.
“This allows us to push hard for two more weeks,” he said.
Beshear says health care will re-open first
During a live-streamed interview with the Courier-Journal, Beshear said he expects to see a phased re-opening of health care facilities in the next couple of weeks, and has asked business leaders to send plans on how they can safely open after the 14-day decline.
“Now is the time for planning,” he said.
JD Chaney, executive director and CEO of the Kentucky League of Cities, said he has heard from numerous local leaders who will want to see cooperation between state and local governments as the closed businesses begin to open their doors.
Officials have been increasingly more vocal about their desire to gradually re-open local economies over the past week or two, but Somerset and Prestonsburg are the only two cities that, to Chaney’s knowledge, have submitted formal plans to the governor.
Part of that increasing concern is that, as the end of the fiscal year approaches, local leaders who are busy crafting next year’s budgets will likely have to plan for a substantial decrease in occupational tax revenue because of the extended coronavirus business closures, Chaney said.
Many cities and counties rely on small businesses for occupational taxes, which provide up to a third of a local government’s total revenue in some cases.
While virtually every local leader has expressed unwavering support for Beshear and his response to the novel coronavirus outbreak, Chaney said local leaders will be more likely to extend their hands and submit plans of their own in the upcoming days and weeks.
“They want to balance the economy with keeping people safe,” Chaney said. “That’s their job ... I think they’re trying to balance out their duty to protect health along with their duty to protect the general welfare of their constituency, and those are kind of colliding right now for some people.”
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 11:27 AM.
