JUDY WOODRUFF: As more and more states begin to loosen their stay-at-home restrictions,
others are extending them.
John Yang begins our coverage of how some businesses are taking their first steps toward
the new normal.
JOHN YANG: Judy, in Georgia, one of the states where restrictions are easing, some business
owners are eager to reopen. Others are doing so with misgivings or simply shut.
Let's hear from two of those voices.
SHANNON STAFFORD, Salon Owner: Speaking for my industry, we have the ability to travel
as a cosmetologist and barbers and nail techs.
So, a lot of us in our industry were able to go to homes or have someone to come to
our homes. And it really put us at a more vulnerable situation. So, the reason why I
was excited to be able to get back, because it allowed us to have a more controlled environment.
STACIA FAMILO-HOPEK, Brewery Owner: Last week, when Governor Kemp announced that restaurants
could begin reopening this week, my husband I just kind of looked at one another and both
shook our heads as to say, no, we wouldn't open up to dine-in service this week.
And we know that the recommendations are that we should see at least 14 days of declining
cases before we start to consider opening up. And we also are thinking about our own
staff and whether or not they would feel comfortable coming back to work yet.
JOHN YANG: To hear how things are going in two states where businesses are reopening,
we're joined by Bill Nigut of Georgia Public Broadcasting. He's in Atlanta. And Anna Rau
of Montana PBS is in Missoula, Montana.
Welcome to you both.
Anna, I want to start with you, because today was the first day that businesses were allowed
to reopen, if they wanted to, some businesses in Montana. But tell us what the situation
in Montana is with the virus. How badly hit is -- has Montana been?
ANNA RAU, Montana PBS: Well, we have actually been pretty lucky.
The governor got on things very quickly and closed schools and businesses early on, before
we had a lot of cases. So we stand at about 450 cases today and only 14 fatalities thus
far. Any fatality obviously is too many, but that is a pretty low number, given what could
have happened.
So I think, at this point, the governor and other officials that run the state have decided
that it is at a point where we can kind of crack the door open. And if we start to see
something rebound a bit here, we could trace it, follow it up, and isolate some of these
people. We have enough testing to do that at this point.
So, I think just the low number of cases and the low number of hospitalizations has made
the governor and officials feel comfortable doing this kind of soft opening.
JOHN YANG: And is Montana hitting the White House guideline of 14 days of declining numbers?
ANNA RAU: Yes, we have had declining numbers since the end of March. The last couple of
days, we have had some days where we have only had one case or none at all.
So, we have definitely seen a downward trend in the cases and in hospitalizations. So it's
looking quite good. And I think that makes people feel confident we can do a little bit
of a reopening.
JOHN YANG: And with the reopening today, are you seeing -- what are you seeing? Are a lot
of businesses reopening that can reopen? And are a lot of consumers heading to stores?
ANNA RAU: No.
And I think that was one of the concerns going on going into this, is, will the customers
show up? The businesses can open, but will customers want to come shop and go back into
retail businesses?
And at this point, also, a lot of them weren't ready to open. And so they have to order a
bunch of things. They have stringent guidelines, if they would like to reopen. They have to
keep the number of people in their store below 50 percent occupancy what they normally would
have. And they also have to keep people social-distanced.
And that's part of the requirements in the governor's phase one reopening. So this is
not just anybody can open up. You have to open with stringent social distancing guidelines
in place.
So I think that some people have been nervous about that. They also need to disinfect. There's
some businesses, they're expecting customers to touch things, and they'd have to disinfect
those.
So nobody really knows what they're going to need to do to make sure customers feel
safe, but they want to make sure they feel safe before they come back. So that's what
they're looking at right now.
JOHN YANG: Bill Nigut, in Georgia, of course, some businesses were allowed to open starting
on Friday.
What's the weekend been like there? Have a lot of businesses opened, a lot of people
going to stores, going to these places?
BILL NIGUT, Georgia Public Broadcasting: We have only anecdotal evidence, obviously, at
this point.
But, Friday, it was hair salons, barbershops, massage therapists, bowling alleys, of all
things. And we found that it -- barbershops on Friday morning in some locations actually
had lines and people waiting to get in the door.
But I think, for the most part, over the weekend, we saw a great deal of resistance to people
wanting to get out and patronize these establishments. And more to the point, many businesses chose
and are continuing to choose to remain closed.
Today, the governor allowed restaurants and social clubs to open for business. And here
again, for the most part, most restauranteurs are saying they do not want to open, they
don't feel comfortable, they don't feel safe.
And, at the same time, we have some who have said, we have got to get back to work, we
need to start making money again.
So it's been a very mixed reaction. And Governor Kemp's decision continue to be incredibly
controversial here.
JOHN YANG: And talk about that. What's the -- what's been the public debate about this?
We have seen polls from Pew last week that said most Americans were worried that restrictions
would come off too soon, rather than not soon enough.
What's the public debate been like in Georgia?
BILL NIGUT: Well, it's been exactly that.
There are people who say -- look, there's no question that Georgia, like every other
state, is suffering extraordinary economic distress, and is going to continue to for
the time being. But there are many, many people here who believe that the governor has chosen
the economy and trying to kick-start business over public safety.
He even got attacked, as you know, by the president last week, who said that Kemp was
moving too quickly. That stunned the Kemp people, because Kemp and Trump had been quite
close for a long time.
JOHN YANG: And, Anna, in Montana, the governor, of course, is a Democrat, Steve Bullock.
What's the public discussion been there about whether this is a good idea or not?
ANNA RAU: Well, there was a lot of concern going into it.
And I think, when people actually found out, this is kind of just, like I said, cracking
the door open, it's not throwing it wide -- restaurants and bars and distilleries are still closed.
They're not allowed to open until next week. And, again, they have stringent social distancing
requirements.
So, I think, as they read the governor's plan, and they have looked at each of the steps,
and then he talked about there are certain requirements we have to have in place in order
to open the economy -- one will be enough personal protective equipment, PPE. And another
is to have enough testing in case we start to see this rear its head again and we can
follow it quickly.
And both of those things are now in place, that they can test symptomatic individuals
with confidence. And we have enough hospital space. So, I think all of these decisions
have been thought through before they decided to open things up.
And with this opening up, it's just some things. Schools are still closed. Schools can remain
closed, gyms, all those places, bowling alleys, bingo halls, music halls all closed. And you
can't have anybody over a group over 10.
So they're still keeping it pretty tight, and you're supposed to still work from home.
So not much has changed, just enough.
JOHN YANG: Has the governor indicated when he's going to take the next step or look -- look
to take the next step, see if there's a rebound in cases and move to the second phase?
ANNA RAU: Right.
I talked to a doctor who actually attended some of the governor's task force planning
about this. And he said, we do want to be realistic.
When we open this up, we are going to see an increase in cases. So we have got to expect
that. However, we don't want to see a huge number of cases, and we want to be able to
track the ones we do see.
So, really, how well this goes will decide when we go to phase two. Phase one could last
three weeks, a month. And we kind of see what happens. And if we like how things look, we
can go on to phase two. By the way, there's three phases to this plan.
And then we would move to phase three when that was OK. But if, at any time, the governor
doesn't like what he's seeing, he will absolutely move it back to a shelter in place and get
rid of phase one.
So, I think that's the -- what they're going to do is track it very closely. And if they
get uncomfortable with what they're seeing, and people aren't social distancing, and they're
not washing their hands, and people aren't being safe, he will take it back to shelter
in place.
JOHN YANG: And, Bill, in Georgia, of course, the governor, Kemp, has been seen as being
pretty aggressive on this.
What's the sense of what -- has he said what his next steps are? When do you move to the
next phases of this?
BILL NIGUT: Well, he's got a very important decision to make.
At the end of the day, on Thursday, April 30, his shelter-in-place order will expire.
We are waiting to see whether he is going to extend that order to all of Georgia. He
has already said that older Georgians and people at medical risk should shelter in place
until May 13.
But now that he said that many businesses can open again, what will he do about extending
the shelter in place order for all people? And we're all very eager to hear what he decides
about that.
JOHN YANG: Bill Nigut, Georgia Public Broadcasting in Atlanta, Anna Rau, Montana PBS in Missoula,
thank you so much to both of you.
ANNA RAU: Thanks, John.
BILL NIGUT: Thanks, John.