Reopening your closed business? Here are the rules

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Governor Brian Kemp announced Monday, April 20, that some businesses will be able to reopen on Friday, April 24, and Monday, April 28, with minimum basic operations; and, those businesses are required to meet specific standards of social distancing and sanitation.

Minimum basic operations are limited to the following:

1.  The minimum necessary activities to maintain the value of a business, establishment, corporation, non-profit corporation or organization, provide services, manage inventory, ensure security, process payroll and employee benefits, or for related functions. Such minimum necessary activities include remaining open to the public subject to the restrictions of the Governor’s Order issued on April 20.

2.  The minimum necessary activities to facilitate employees or volunteers being able to work remotely from their residences or members or patrons being able to participate remotely from their residences.

3.  Instances where employees are working outdoors without regular contact with other persons, such as delivery services, contractors, landscape businesses, and agricultural industry services.

Businesses that can reopen on Friday, April 24, include:
• Gyms
• Fitness centers
• Bowling alleys
• Body art studios
• Barbers
• Cosmetology hair design
• Esthetics
• Nail care schools
• Massage therapists

Businesses that are able to reopen on Monday, April 27, include:

• Theaters
• Private social clubs
• Restaurant dine-in services

The following measures are required for those businesses to mitigate the exposure and spread of COVID-19:

1. Screening and evaluating workers who exhibit signs of illness, such as a fever over 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, cough, or shortness of breath;

2. Requiring workers who exhibit signs of illness to not report   to work or to seek medical attention;

3. Enhancing sanitation of the workplace as appropriate;

4. Requiring hand washing or sanitation by workers at appropriate places within the business location;

5. Providing personal protective equipment as available and appropriate to the function and location of the worker within the business location;

6. Prohibiting gatherings of workers during working hours;

7. Permitting workers to take breaks and meals outside, in their office or personal workspace, or in such other areas where proper social distancing is attainable;

8.  Implementing teleworking for all possible workers;

9.  Implementing staggered shifts for all possible workers;

10. Holding all meetings and conferences virtually, wherever possible;

11. Delivering intangible services remotely wherever possible;

12. Discouraging workers from using other workers’ phones, desks, offices, or other work tools and equipment;

13. Prohibiting handshaking and other unnecessary person-to­person contact in the workplace;

14. Placing notices that encourage hand hygiene at the entrance to the workplace and in other workplace areas where they are likely to be seen;

15. Suspending the use of Personal Identification Number (“PIN”) pads, PIN entry devices, electronic signature capture, and any other credit card receipt signature requirements  to the extent such suspension is permitted by agreements with credit card companies and credit agencies;

16. Enforcing social distancing of non-cohabitating persons  while present on such entity’s leased or owned property;

17. For retailers and service providers, providing for alternative points of sale outside of buildings, including curbside pickup or delivery of products and/or services if an alternative point of sale is permitted under Georgia law;

18. Increasing physical space between workers and customers;

19. Providing disinfectant and sanitation products for workers to clean their workspace, equipment, and tools;

20. Increasing physical space between workers’ worksites to at least six (6) feet.

— Information provided by the city of Peachtree City