A sign at a Haines grocery store asks shoppers not to enter if they have recently traveled. Travel restrictions have changed in recent weeks. (Photo by Henry Leasia)
Last month the state lifted COVID-19 restrictions on businesses. Since then, there has been an increase in the number of new coronavirus cases across Alaska, including the first confirmed case in Haines. Now it is up to business owners to decide what kind of health precautions are necessary when interacting with customers.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Alaska implemented restrictions on business operations to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Only businesses deemed essential were allowed to stay open to the public, and they were required to operate under health guidelines from the state.
Chip Lende owns Lutak Lumber, a building supply and hardware store in Haines. Starting in March, Lende’s business stopped allowing customers inside the building.
“We needed to stay open, so we originally just dealt with all of the customers in the parking lot,” Lende says. “We had to reduce hours because it took so much running around to do that that we just didn’t have the manpower to service everybody.”
By the end of May, the governor lifted restrictions on businesses in Alaska. Since then, Lende has opened up his hardware store to the public, but he still requires customers to wear masks and maintain six feet of distance between each other.
Because his business serves upwards of a hundred people a day, Lende worries it could become a hot spot if there was a bad local outbreak. He says he will be glad if it turns out the precautions he is taking weren’t necessary.
“If anyone in Haines got really sick or died, and I didn’t do everything possible to minimize or prevent that, I would feel terrible,” Lende says.
Since the state lifted restrictions on businesses last month, there has been an increase in the number of new coronavirus cases across Alaska.
After the first COVID-19 case in Haines was discovered, Haines Mayor Jan Hill told CBC Canada that the town had become a bit “lackadaisical” when it came to following recommendations from public health officials.
Lende says it would be helpful to have more direction from the borough about the precautions that businesses should take. He says he even reached out to former borough manager Debra Schnabel for guidance before she was fired.
“I had called Debra a few days before and I said, ‘Debra, what do we do? We’re getting pressure to open up the store. What does the borough recommend?'”
Not everyone wants oversight from the borough when it comes to this issue.
Schnabel was criticized for distributing flyers outlining state health mandates to local businesses. Some also said she crossed a line when she entered a local business and pointed out a lack of face masks and physical distancing measures. It was cited by Assemblyman Paul Rogers as a reason to terminate her employment.
At an assembly meeting last month, Haines resident Karen Hess said it wasn’t the borough manager’s job to disseminate the state’s health protocols.
“I believe we are smart enough to all see what we’re supposed to do,” Hess said. “I don’t believe we need the borough manager going around, popping in and out of businesses, making a scene.”
So now the borough is looking for feedback on how the community should respond to its first case.
Recently, the Haines Emergency Operations Center has been seeking input from the public to develop guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as the level of risk fluctuates between low, medium and high.
The EOC will host a town hall meeting on Wednesday at 6 p.m. to collect feedback. For details on how to participate visit hainesalaska.gov. Questions, comments and concerns can be sent to EOC@haines.ak.us.
