Dear Bend Business Owner,
I know many of you are still digesting the news of Governor Brown’s Executive Order on Monday, mandating the closure of additional businesses and requiring any that remain open to maintain strict social distancing guidelines.
This is a confusing time with updates or changes coming on an hourly basis. I’ve received a flurry of questions on what this means and how to best move forward. I’ll try to cover the most common ones below.
As you’re navigating your way through this, please keep reaching out. We’re continuing to post updates on resources, loans, and tracking state and federal assistance packages at bendoregon.gov/business/coronavirus-business-resources.
Which businesses have to close?
The Governor’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order expanded required closures from dine-in restaurants and bars to include a number of new business types, including:
- Nightclubs and concerts
- Shopping at outdoor or indoor malls and retail complexes
- Fitness: Gyms, sports and fitness centers, health clubs, and exercise studios, dance and yoga studios
- Grooming: Hair salons, barbershops, nail salons, day spas and massage services, non-medical wellness spas, cosmetic stores, tattoo parlors
- Entertainment: Theaters, amusement parks, arcades, bowling alleys, music concerts, sporting events, museums, skating rinks
- Outdoors: State parks, playgrounds, campgrounds, pools, skate parks, festivals
Businesses that may remain open but need to implement social distancing guidelines include:
- Hospitals and health care
- Grocery stores
- Banks and Credit Unions
- Pharmacies
- Take-out/delivery from restaurants and bars
- Pet stores
- Gas stations
- Certain retail stores
- Child care facilities, if abiding by new state rules. Please reach out to your state licensing contact for assistance on these new requirements.
Here’s the best overview I’ve found on which businesses must close along with guidelines on implementing social distancing (govstatus.egov.com/or-covid-19). There’s plenty of grey area in these rules. Remember that social distance=physical distance, if you can’t maintain 6 feet of separation between your employees and customers your business likely cannot remain open.
Monday’s order includes hefty fines and potential jail time for failure to comply. The Bend Police Department’s first objective in these situations is to educate, not write tickets. However, please consider the safety of your employees as you work to abide by these new rules, putting them in unsafe situations could also open you up to OSHA complaints.
Taking Care of Your Employees
Here are a few key items that have come up over the past few days as you’ve worked to connect your employees to the right resources through stressful layoffs or reductions in hours. Please get in touch if you’re struggling to find answers to your questions.
If you had to do a layoff, consider allowing your employees to use your computers. At a time when most public places with computers have been closed and wait times for filing for unemployment insurance over the phone are greater than one hour, there are many families that do not have computers at home.
The Oregon Employment Department continues to process new unemployment applications as temporary layoffs; this means your employees don’t have to search for new work at this time. If you’re a business that may need to open to provide emergency services, like a dentist or eye doctor, the Employment Department can work with your employee to allow them to come back for this temporary work while maintaining unemployment benefits.
Our local healthcare providers are still receiving calls requesting a doctor’s note before clearing them to return to work. With COVID-19 tests in very limited supply, getting a test is impossible save for folks meeting strict criteria. You can help preserve healthcare capacity in the region, instead of requiring return-to-work notes from healthcare providers, please follow CDC guidelines for employers on when a sick employee should return to the office.
Where Can You Get Help?
Last Friday, Oregon received access to Small Business Administration Disaster Relief Loans. The folks at the Small Business Development Center at COCC are prepared to help you work through submitting a request,you can contact them directly here (cocc.edu/departments/continuinged/small-business-development-center/). Like many websites, the SBA site is down intermittently; I’ve been told that your best bet to find the site up and running is after 3pm once the East Coast traffic dies down.
The federal government appears poised to approve a $2 trillion aid package. This includes financial assistance for small businesses and impacted employees, including sole proprietors and freelance works. We’re monitoring this effort and will have all the details on bendoregon.gov/bizresources as this package is approved.
I know this is an overwhelming time and it’s easy to feel hopeless. I’m heartened by the businesses in our community that are stepping up to help despite grappling with their own sudden drop in revenue. From distillers manufacturing hand sanitizer to restaurants and grocers working to ensure any unused food goes to local relief organizations, you each continue to show your deep commitment to helping Bend get through this.
Please reach out if you have questions or need help. We’re continuing to work with individuals at all levels of government to ensure that our local needs are acknowledged and assistance becomes available. I can assure you that more help is on the way.
Hang in there and, as always, thank you for doing business in Bend,
Ben Hemson, Business Advocate, City of Bend
541-388-5529 • bhemson@bendoregon.gov • @BendBizAdvocate
Stay in the loop on business discussions at the City of Bend: @Bendbizadvocate
