by Chris Spencer
Virginia has an opportunity to show the rest of the nation how to reopen and prepare for the next waves of COVID-19.
We needed widespread mandatory restrictions in March to (a) flatten the curve to give the health system a chance to manage it and (b) impress upon people the seriousness of the situation. That worked. Everyone recognizes that the rules have to be lifted. The question is when and how. We need to find what one might call the Goldilocks zones: not too hot, not too cold, just right. Why zones? Because no one approach is going to be right for every business and for every part of the state.
Who decides? Certainly not talking TV heads or Twitter. Certainly not government alone. Certainly not each business and each citizen. We are all in this together and we have to get out of it together.
How do we decide? By working together.
The solution is for invested parties — those who have a stake in the outcome — to work together on at least an initial plan. Government has an interest in the general welfare. Business owners have an interest in the welfare of the business and of their customers, most of whom are repeat. Customers have an interest in their own safety. Doctors have an interest in managing a virus that will be with us for a long time and whose mutations will follow.
Let’s get together to come up with plans. The restaurant association can meet with the health department to come up with guidelines that fit each kind of business. Small restaurants with a few close tables can let a group in at a time or just do carryout. Restaurants with outdoor seating can open those areas with fewer tables because the virus doesn’t spread as easily outside. Those with indoor seating can space tables out farther. People can make reservations for lunch as well as dinner so that restaurants can manage the flow and customers can know they will not be crowded. There are apps for that already.
Get the hair salon groups together with the appropriate agency. Most salons require appointments already. Figure out best practice guidelines for spacing and sanitizing. Put them in place and let people open up. (Hurry. We’re all getting shaggy.)
Include the doctors if they want to participate. We know a lot more about the virus now than we did. The doctors also know what we don’t know. A program could be structured in a way that helps them research and learn so that we are prepared to act even more wisely next time.
Include mediators and facilitators if you want. They can keep the conversation focused on the goal of success. They have time on their hands and would love to help.
Keep people informed so they know government cares and wants to help.
No one group has all the answers. A cooperative approach will find the Goldilocks zones. And if things need to be tweaked, we will have in place a system for tweaking it. And we can stop this finger pointing, get back to work, and get ready for the next waves of this virus and its successors when (not if) they come.
Chris Spencer, an attorney, lives in Richmond.
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