Central Delaware chamber pushing for more businesses to reopen Monday
From Delaware State News
DOVER — The Central Delaware Chamber of Commerce is pushing to reopen more businesses by Monday, and will make a pitch to Gov. John Carney during a teleconference this afternoon.
CDCC President Judy Diogo said the organization’s letter to the governor on Monday emphasized “well thought-out plans” to provide a healthy environment for arriving patrons and employees. The correspondence was shared with the state’s 13 other chamber branches, who will also join the call, she said.
Currently, Phase 1 economic reopening is scheduled for June 1 under the governor’s state of emergency order. While some essential businesses have stayed open throughout COVID-19’s arrival in March, others later opened with restrictions and some remain shuttered.
In the past month, Ms. Diogo said eight CDCC business members – small retail stores – have closed permanently.
“That’s devastating to hear,” she said. “They said there was no possible way to continue due to the financial impact of being closed.”
Other business owners are, Ms. Diogo said, “desperate and frightened, some of them are angry and they feel frustrated. They’re confident in the steps they’ve taken to provide safe and secure settings and are ready to open back up and get to work. “
The CDCC has approximately 850 small- and mid-sized company members who have about 36,000 employees combined. Ms. Diogo said the recurring theme during discussions is that companies have outlined in great detail their plans to provide best practices upon reopening. Businesses would be amendable if hours are initially restricted, Ms. Diogo said.
“Businesses need the option to reopen at this point, which some might not do if they don’t feel ready to do that for whatever reason,” Ms. Diogo said. “For those that do, however, we all feel very confident and trust that they’ve made serious and well thought-out efforts to safely accommodate anyone associated with them.”