Photo by Peter Di Natale/The Choate News
On October 8, Connecticut started Phase Three of its reopening plan. With this step, as much as 99% of the state’s economy can resume, according to Governor Ned Lamont.
While businesses such as nightclubs and bars will remain closed, restaurants, libraries, and personal services including hair salons and barber shops have increased their gathering size from 50% to 75% capacity. Places of worship can now increase their capacity up to 50% as well.
Transitioning into Phase Three, local businesses have prepared precautionary measures to ensure the safety of their customers and patrons.
Colony Diner on North Colony Road is one of the many Connecticut restaurants increasing its capacity up to 75%. To accommodate more customers safely, owner Mr. Eric Celik said that his restaurant installed more plexiglass between dining booths, antibacterial cleaners, and markings on the floor that remind customers to remain six feet apart. Customers are required to wear a mask and are given a single-use paper menu. After a table clears, employees wipe down all of the furniture.
“When you are seating more people inside, there’s always a danger to it,” said Mr. Celik.
To avoid any potential risks, Mr. Celik has been operating the outdoor area at 50% capacity since the start of Phase One. In order to maintain a steady stream of customers this upcoming winter, Colony Diner has installed heating in its outdoor dining areas. “Once the tent goes away, business is going to drop again,” he said. Mr. Celik plans to continue curbside pickups and take-out orders.
Unlike restaurants, theaters such as Holiday Cinemas Stadium 14, also on North Colony Road, can operate only indoors. Since reopening in late August, the theater has enforced new protocols for social distancing, implemented new policies for sanitizing and disinfecting the facility, reduced its seating capacity to 30%, and changed its operating hours.
General Manager Mr. Kevin LaFlamme described the reopening as “taking a small step towards getting back to normal.” He mentioned that receiving more customers was one of the benefits of Phase Three. “With the guidelines our theater has in place, we are confident we are providing a safe experience to our customers,” he said. According to Mr. LaFlamme, as attendance increases, the theater will be increasing its cleaning frequency.
The Wallingford Public Library is another location taking on new safety measures as Phase Three progresses. Requiring all of the library’s patrons to be masked, the library administrators have enforced social distancing: stairways can only be used one person at a time, and only a limited number of people are allowed to enter the building to access the book collections, copiers, and fax equipment at a time.
Plexiglass is used to shield public staff working areas. The Park ’n Pickup program is a check-out process that requires no physical interaction between patrons and staff. Additionally, most of the library furniture has been stored away to decrease the number of people staying at the library and to encourage patrons to sit individually.
“We are more like a store right now where people come in and get what they need to borrow and then leave with only maybe 20 opportunities for people to sit in chairs at a table,” said Library Director Ms. Jane Fisher.
The library has also altered its book-returning process. “All of the books are now returned through the book drop, and those books have to sit for four days before they get checked in and put back on the shelf,” Ms. Fisher explained. Computer use has also changed to require scheduled appointments with the purpose of maintaining a distance in between computer users. After each user, keyboards, mouses, tables, and monitors are wiped down.
Most of the library programs have been on Zoom or Facebook Live, and the attendance has been “pretty excellent,” according to Ms. Fisher.
The Library Director, however, lamented the continued closing of specific areas of the library. “Unfortunately, we have not been able to open our Collaboratory, our Wonder Room, and our bookstore, and we don’t have a date yet [for] when those spaces will be open,” she said.
Another public space that reopened with Phase Three is the Most Holy Trinity Church. Upon entering the church, parishioners have their temperatures taken by the ushers, and hand sanitizer stations are available at the church’s entrances. Seats in every pew are also marked to denote if they can be occupied.
While ushers assist with maintaining social distancing, those who are part of the same household may sit together. More time has been allotted between services to allow for the cleaning of regularly-touched surfaces such as doorknobs and tops of pews. “We’re doing our best to comply with the regulations but also offer people the chance to go to church,” said Parish Trustee Mr. Jerry Farrell Jr. ’86.
While Phase Three allows for more normality, Mr. Farrell noted that some changes made during this time may be kept permanent. Before, the Church had four Sunday Masses. After readjusting to the pandemic, the Church has decided to keep only three masses going forward. “The 7:30 a.m. [masses] were a little sparse,” he mentioned.
The Church is also keeping its live streaming program, which was created to give people the option of staying at home while also attending Mass during the lockdown. Live streaming has especially helped those who are immunocompromised or of an older age. According to Mr. Farrell, live streaming can bring many benefits even once the pandemic passes. “If your grandchild is getting baptized at Holy Trinity, but you’re in South America, you can attend by livestream,” he said.
As Connecticut shifts to Phase Three, businesses and service locations are most concerned with keeping their customers and patrons safe at the increased capacity. New implementations have been added onto safety measures that have been present since previous reopening stages. Keeping a close eye on the number of coronavirus cases, the state hopes to continue with its reopening efforts.
