Curry preps for possible reopening

The countdown is on to Friday when New Mexico residents and businesses hope that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will start easing the state from COVID-19 restrictions into some early form of re-opening.

Curry County isn't just sitting in bated-breath mode.

The county Chamber of Commerce, in fact, is preparing for a possible re-opening to begin Friday.

"We're just following what the governor has come up with as far as her direction," Clovis Economic Development Director Chase Gentry said Monday. "But we're trying to prepare for the opening. We're trying to work with the state to make sure the businesses have the protective equipment in order to open. ...

"So we're just continuing to work along those lines to help people get back into the businesses and shops. And also making sure that the governor understands that we're helping our local businesses get ready to have the best practices in place."

Curry County Chamber of Commerce Director Ernie Kos said Monday the plan is in two phases.

Those phases are safety issues and marketing, according to Kos. The safety issues should be familiar to most.

"It's the same thing," Kos said. "To arrange remote work as much as possible, arrange the distancing 6 feet. ... It's basically adhering to all the CDC guidelines. It gives the guidelines and best practices relating to retailers, installing plexiglass and arranging for contactless payment.

"It's no different than from the beginning."

What is new is that the Chamber is delivering posters to its businesses, which will help them as they deal with employees and customers in a re-adjustment phase.

The posters inform customers that business employees are:

1) Refraining from handshakes and instead using non-contact forms of greeting.

2) Washing their hands regularly and wearing gloves as necessary.

3) Regularly disinfecting doorknobs, tables and points of sale.

4) Avoiding touching their faces and even wearing masks as necessity dictates.

5) Taking temperatures at the start of every shift.

The posters also request that customers stay home if they feel sick, and state that the businesses are sending their employees home if they do.

There are also social distancing and customer limit reminders on the posters, and there are blank lines that can be filled in by the businesses offering their own alternative methods of serving customers during the pandemic.

The posters were initially going to have the logo of each individual business on them, but that idea was KO'd because it would have been too expensive.

Kos said the Chamber is not emailing the posters, but actually physically delivering them, at least as much as they can.

"It's hard to deliver these to the businesses," she said, "because so few people are open."

Then there's the marketing phase, which is still early in the process.

"Basically right now it's (slogans of) 'Clovis Strong' and 'We're all in this together,'" Kos said. "We're working on a marketing piece and graphics and billboards to show that Clovis is open for business. We don't have that firmed up yet, but we're working on it. It's all in the planning stages, but we're working fast."

And Friday beginning at 10 a.m., a business recovery task force will meet online.

"By then we should know what the governor's plans are past May 15," Kos said. "No one seems to know for sure."

"We want to make sure that when she says they can open that they will have the practices in place," Gentry said. "That's what we're working toward with the task force."

While they're working, they're waiting to hear from the governor.

"It'll be a big announcement whatever she says," Kos said, "and we'll be ready when she says it."