Summit County has officially “flattened the curve” in the infection rate of COVID-19. Now, officials say it’s time to start the conversation about how we ease back into economic and social activity without losing the progress we’ve made.
Summit County has formed the Stabilization Working Group, which has come up with a 3-phase plan. Right now, we’re in the Urgent Phase. Last week, officials said they were looking to move into the Stabilization Phase. The goal they say is to be able to gradually and safely return to business under specific guidelines and conditions without causing a new wave of infection.
Last Wednesday, the Summit County Council cut its budget by $3 million and expect another round of cuts totaling $2 million by the end of the month.
Then on Thursday, with 2 and a half months to go in the current fiscal year, the Park City Council cuts its budget by $4 million.
Park City Council member Steve Joyce says even more frightening than this first round of cuts is what happens next winter if the coronavirus threat drags on…
“You talk about being able to start considering opening things up,” Joyce said. “But a lot of this is going to come down to what really happens with the Coronavirus and how does the public react. I mean are people going to be interested and willing – even if we have our ski resorts wide open for this coming winter – are people going to be getting on planes and coming to hotels and getting on to ski slopes and eating at our restaurants in the same kinds of numbers that they have historically and it’s just a crystal ball that almost anyone who gives you definitive, don’t believe them, because they just don’t know.”
The city he says is trying to set up a budget based on their best guess for the short term and not do anything too dramatic they will regret in the long term.
“As we see businesses starting to open and we see the progress of the virus and see the reaction from the tourism community and our local community and how business is performing, then we can start making adjustments accordingly,” Joyce said. “Gosh, it’s just so hard to know. I think the thing we don’t want to do is panic, layoff half our city workforce, and then all of a sudden find out, hey it’s not as bad as we thought, gee I sure wish we hadn’t done that.”
He expects to see a number of budget adjustments from here on out – and we should all expect to see business done differently.
“I don’t even know how this plays out.” Joyce said. “Maybe when restaurants open they’ll do kind of what they had there for just a little bit in the middle of March – you can be open but you can only be at 50% of your normal capacity and you have to spread people out further. The interesting question is how does that actually exactly work for us – is that enough money for the restaurant to stay open – can they survive that way? And how does that affect other businesses that aren’t necessarily quite as clear and so I think it’s going to be a bit before we can really tell what our sales revenue is going to look like.”
The guide for moving forward is public health and the thinking is that operations that can be done safely while continuing to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus should be able to take place.
The county has issued a call of action. Businesses, associations, nonprofits, faith-based organizations, and other groups are invited to work with the county on sector-specific proposals for how, and under what conditions, each sector of the economy may reopen safely for business.
This effort won’t be a one-size fits all approach. With 3,500 licensed businesses within the community, it’s expected to be to a daunting task.
The county is looking for specific business sectors and organizations to choose leaders to represent that sector or organization to work with the County on a plan for how to return to operations.
The County’s Stabilization Working Group will review the applications and appoint the representatives.
In a new health order anticipated for mid-May, Summit County will issue minimum mandatory standards, in coordination with the state, which all businesses and organizations must follow.
The County is looking for innovative and creative strategies specific to the business sectors that can be layered on top of those minimum standards to keep the public safe while allowing people to return to work.
Those interested in serving as a sector or organization representative, should complete and submit an application form to EOC@summitcounty.org by April 20, 2020.
