FARGO, N.D. (AP) - Most of the dozen or so customers who came to eat breakfast in the first hour of business at the Fryn’ Pan Family Restaurant on Friday exchanged pleasantries with manager Pat Jones, who explained to them the new safety rules under which the restaurant was reopening despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Jones, who has managed the restaurant since it opened in 1984, carried around a bottle of disinfectant wherever he went. He even wiped down a newspaper rack outside the cafe that was empty - the local paper having stopped printing on Fridays because the pandemic had slashed its advertising revenue.
Restaurant workers and employees at other businesses have felt the same pinch since Gov. Doug Burgum shut down bars, restaurants, barber shops, beauty salons. health clubs, movie theaters and other large-scale venues to slow the spread of the disease. Even though the Fryn’ Pan crew was happy to be back on the job Friday, the first day of Burgum’s plan to ease business restrictions, Jones said he was apprehensive.
“We’re ready for opening, we’re glad we’re opening because it’s been a struggle,” Jones said. “But we know we’re not going to be super busy today. I think people are thinking, ‘I might go out today, I might not.’”
He later added, “We’re learning how to operate on different levels.”
The number of positive COVID-19 cases in North Dakota has risen dramatically in the last couple of weeks, with four new deaths reported Friday, and public health experts have warned that reopening businesses too quickly could lead to a spike in cases. But none of that seemed to faze Fryn Pan customers, only a couple of whom arrived wearing masks.
“It’s kind of nice having someone ask if you want to go to eat,” said Tim Jones, 59, a Fargo general contractor who is not related to the manager.
Server Tricia Erback said employees spent most of the last few days reviewing the new guidelines, such as maintaining social distancing for diners and staff, serving salt, pepper and condiments in paper containers rather than bottles, and cleaning everything in sight whenever possible. Burgum’s guidelines limit bars and restaurants to half capacity.
“We still have the same chef, so that helps,” Erback said, smiling through her mask.
Another thing that hasn’t changed is the menu and the Rosie’s Special, which features two eggs, three strips of bacon, three grilled sausages, hash browns and choice of toast, muffin or two hotcakes for $10.39. Pat Jones said the entrée was named by a server at a small town diner in South Dakota.
“That was the most popular item on the menu,” Jones said. “And it still is.”
Some of the reopening guidelines for other businesses include requiring barbers and cosmetologists to wear mask, prohibiting some high-intensity fitness classes and making movie theaters limit seating and stagger start times.
While Burgum allowed businesses to reopen with precautions, he announced Friday that North Dakota schools would remain closed and would “continue with distance learning” for the rest of the academic year, which ends this month.
Several restaurant owners throughout the state who were reopening Friday said they were worried about how quickly customers would return, especially with the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state rising above 1,100.
“It all depends on the consumer,” said Dan Labernik, owner of Labby’s Grill and Bar in Fargo.
Dr. Paul Carson, public health and infectious disease specialist at North Dakota State University and adviser to the governor’s COVID-19 team, said the overall case count is not the best measuring stick because it depends on the “aggressiveness” of testing on a particular day. The state reported Friday that 2,065 more COVID-19 tests had been conducted, which was a record daily high for North Dakota. Since the outbreak started, nearly 30,000 people in the state have been tested, making for one of the best per-capita rates in the country.
“I think a better objective measure of where we’re at is hospitalizations and deaths,” Carson said. “Those don’t rise and fall with who, when, how and where you test. They’re fixed to the disease. And we’ve been flat on that.”
The state showed 23 deaths and 27 current hospitalizations in its Friday report. Asked if those numbers justified the reopening, Carson paused and said, “I think so.”
“Whatever we do that increases the potential for people to come into contact with more people is going to increase our numbers of cases,” he said. “But I think we also have to realize that this extreme social isolation and closing businesses has come with a tremendous toll. The end game is potentially months and even potentially years away.”
___
Check out more of the AP’s coronavirus coverage at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
Please read our comment policy before commenting.