CLAYTON, Mo. (KMOV.com) — The guidelines for reopening businesses in the St. Louis region were released Wednesday, with regulations for eight defined sectors of business in the area.
St. Louis City and County will begin reopening on May 18, and St. Louis County Executive Sam Page outlined the guidelines on the county’s website.
The regulations were the result of meetings between regional leaders, health officials, and members of the business community.
Business leaders were tapped to examine the challenges of reopening their specific industries and health officials worked with them to come up with a strategy to allow businesses to operate while putting public health at the forefront.
The eight categories are:
Restaurants
Transportation
Construction, manufacturing and repair
Personal services
Commercial office buildings
Hotels
Retail
Business offices
Here are some of the guidelines for each area of business:
Restaurants
1) Practice social distancing – maintain 6 feet between and among employees and guests at all times
2) Monitor employee health – check the status of your employee’s health and screen employees for COVID-19
3) Use protective equipment – a fabric face cover must always be worn by employees and guests
4) Clean/sanitize/disinfect – wash and sanitize hands, and wipe down frequently touched surfaces with EPA-approved disinfectant (Ensure safe and correct application of disinfectants.)
Additionally, restaurants must provide all staff members with proper protective equipment including fabric or disposable facial covering for all, and gloves (with instructions for proper use to avoid cross contamination). Kitchen and service staff to wear face coverings at all times.
Appropriate EPA-registered chemical disinfectant cleaning supplies should be provided as necessary to all staff members, and restaurants must use EPA-registered disinfectants for all routine cleaning.
To read the full list of restaurant responsibilities, including preparation and how staff should arrive and leave, click here.
Transportation
Enforce everyday preventive actions such as hand washing, covering coughs and sneezes, and use of a cloth face covering by employees when around others, as safety permits.
Institute measures to physically separate or create distance of at least six feet between all occupants. This may include:
Asking bus passengers to enter and exit the bus through rear doors, while allowing exceptions for persons with disabilities.
Closing every other row of seats.
Reduce maximum occupancy of buses and individual subway and train cars and increase service on crowded routes, as appropriate.
Provide physical guides to ensure that customers remain at least six feet apart while on vehicles and at transit stations and stops. For example, floor decals, colored tape, or signs to indicate where passengers should not sit or stand can be used to guide passengers.
Install physical barriers, such as sneeze guards and partitions at staffed kiosks and on transit vehicles to the extent practicable.
Close communal spaces, such as break rooms, if possible; otherwise, stagger use and clean and disinfect in between uses. Train employees and post signage to avoid congregating in any communal areas that must remain open.
For explanations on cleaning and disinfecting, click here.
Construction, manufacturing and repair
Upon arrival at work, employees should be masked, and employers must conduct health checks (e.g., temperature and symptom screening) of employees at the start of each shift. Conduct health checks safely and respectfully, and in accordance with any applicable privacy laws and regulations. Confidentiality should be respected. Employers may use examples of screening methods in CDC’s General Business FAQs as a guide.
Each jobsite should develop cleaning and decontamination procedures that are posted and shared. These procedures should cover all areas including trailers, gates, equipment, vehicles, etc., and should be posted at entry points to the site and throughout the project site.
All employees should drive to work site/parking area in a single occupant vehicle. Contractors or other staff should not ride together in the same vehicle. If riding in separate vehicles is not possible, limit the number of individuals and distance as much as possible (e.g. individual sits in driver seat while individual sits in back right cab).
Eliminate handshaking and reduce physical contact between employees where possible. Technology should be used to minimize contact between employees.
For more specifics, including rules on in-home repairs, click here.
Personal Services
Upon arrival at work, employees must be masked, and employers must conduct health checks (e.g., temperature and symptom screening) of employees at the start of each shift. Conduct health checks safely and respectfully, and in accordance with any applicable privacy laws and regulations.
Employees will also be asked to put personal items in specific areas to avoid contamination. Shifts may be staggered to accommodate 6 feet of separation between employees and clients.
Employers must provide face masks for all employees. Signs outside will advise customers to not enter if not feeling well.
There are many, very specific guidelines posted here.
Commercial Office Buildings
The most important set of strategies involve physically removing the potential of exposure. These elimination strategies include ensuring that employees quarantine or isolate if they have or are believed to have COVID-19 or have come into contact with individuals who have COVID19. To do so, businesses should educate their employees about Disinfection Processes and Social Distancing Requirements, quarantine and isolation, regularly screen employees to see if they have come into contact with a COVID-19 positive person and insist that quarantine and isolation policies are strictly followed.
Whenever possible, have people work or access the business from home; this should include restructuring responsibilities to minimize the numbers of employees that need to be physically present. Consider redistributing responsibilities to reduce contact between individuals and using technology to facilitate communication. For workplaces this can mean instituting work from home policies for all non-essential personnel. For essential personnel and workplaces, it can mean reducing the number of employees on a shift and keeping employees further apart.
What guests to office buildings need to know, here.
Hotels
The goal of the protocols outlined in the document is to minimize contact reducing the risk of virus spread among both staff and riders. The core set of principles that together prevent the spread of infections by respiratory transmission include:
1) Practice social distancing – maintain 6 feet between and among employees and guests at all times
2) Monitor employee health – ensure your employees are in good health and screen employees for COVID-19
3) Use protective equipment – a fabric face cover must always be worn by employees and guests
4) Clean/sanitize/disinfect – wash and sanitize hands, and wipe down frequently touched surfaces with EPA-approved disinfectant (Ensure safe and correct application of disinfectants.)
Specific guidelines governing hotels and the employees that work there can be found here.
Retail
The goal of the protocols outlined for retail was established by a commission of leaders from various businesses in the county, like the St. Louis Galleria, Schnucks and Delmar Loop Retailers. The goal is to minimize contact reducing the risk of virus spread among both staff and riders. You can read the specifics here.
Business Offices
The guidelines for business re-openings can be found here. They focus on cleanliness, good hygiene and an emphases on social distancing.
