Cleveland-Area Businesses Consider Safety Options As Health Orders Lift

Cleveland-area businesses are considering how to continue providing services safely after Gov. Mike DeWine lifts state health orders June 2. Many are considering keeping mask requirements and other measures in place to prevent coronavirus spread.

Stacey Bartels owns Framed Gallery in the Waterloo Arts District in Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood. She shifted to selling art online and hosting virtual art showings during the pandemic, but she’s set to have an in-person art opening after the health orders are lifted.

“I still want to continue to use some restrictions. I don’t want to have, say, 40 or 50 people crammed in there,” Bartels said.

Framed Gallery will continue enforcing mask use for visitors, something Bartels said hasn’t been an issue so far. She’s hoping the relaxed restrictions will bring more foot traffic and business as well as additional neighborhood events like ones that took place prior to the pandemic.

“That drew a lot of people into the neighborhood,” Bartels said. “We’re in a rebuilding phase because the foot traffic has been so slow.”

Salons and barbershops also saw a dip in traffic early on in the pandemic, said barber Anthony Tursivio with Premier Barber Studio in Ohio City. Those businesses already prioritized cleanliness before the pandemic hit, he said, and that’s going to continue.

“We take a lot of measures to keep everything safe for everyone,” he said. “I know for us barbers, we’re probably going to continue wearing masks for the foreseeable future.”

Business has picked back up over time, Tursivio said. At this point, the barbershop sees about the same amount of traffic as it did before the coronavirus hit, he said.

“We’re definitely happy to have this end, just like I’m sure everybody is,” Tursivio said, “but we’re still going to do our part to make sure everything is sanitary and clean and keep everything going so people feel safe when they come in here to see us.”

One local cleaning company is also considering ways to proceed as the orders are lifted.

Cleveland-based Standing Ovation Cleaning Company LLC began offering disinfection services during the pandemic, said proprietor Candis Johnson, and is refusing service to customers who have had COVID-19 within the last 15 days and have not yet disinfected their living space.

Johnson is concerned about her staff interacting with others in close spaces, she said. So she’ll continue to focus on proper handwashing and personal hygiene, as well as masks.

“One of the biggest changes for me would be to emphasize more, spread the word more about proper hygiene. More so than even masks,” Johnson said.

Those same safety measures will be the priority for Kimberly Mack, owner of Dream Event Services in Shaker Heights. The pandemic has brought event planning almost completely to a halt, she said, and she’s had to shift to smaller events in order to get by. News of the health orders’ imminent removal brought relief for both her and her clients, she said.

“I got more celebrations, because everyone’s been on pins and needles about which way everything was going to go,” Mack said.

Most of Mack’s staff is vaccinated, but she will continue asking them to mask, she said. Her primary concern is the potential spread of the coronavirus to event attendees. Whether masks are required for guests is up to the venue, she said.

“If a venue says they want everyone masked up, then I’m going to help them enforce that,” Mack said. “It would be a shame to ruin a beautiful day because someone won’t follow the simple order of wearing a mask.”