Is the KC area ready to reopen? Here’s how to prepare for end of the COVID-19 shutdown

What will you be doing in the coming week? Whatever it is, preparing for a safe return to society ought to be a big part of it.

Indeed, one more week of the coronavirus shutdown in much of the Kansas City area — while it has caused understandable angst among closed businesses and out-of-work employees — could be a blessing in disguise, if it means businesses and consumers use the extra time to be more prepared for a safe reopening.

“Don’t just stand by and open the door on the 11th,” suggests Johnson County Commission Chairman Ed Eilert, adding that reopening recommendations can be found on county and state websites, as well as industry sites that share best practices.

“I would really encourage any business that hasn’t sat down and just tried to work through this, just start thinking through it, to do that as quickly as you can,” notes Joe Reardon, president and CEO of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.

While Missouri and Kansas as a whole ended their blanket shutdown orders Monday — as did Platte, Clay and Cass counties in Missouri and Leavenworth and Miami counties in Kansas — Kansas City is only relaxing its stay-at-home order a little on Wednesday, and its stay-at-home order is in place until May 15. Jackson, Johnson and Wyandotte counties have extended their shutdown orders through Sunday.

With that extra time, residents and businesses have a chance to program new protocols and reprogram their routines.

Besides advice on government and trade websites, nonessential businesses readying to reopen on Monday could learn a thing or two from essential businesses that have remained functioning throughout the pandemic. Several business and civic organizations also have a detailed Safe Return KC guide at thinkkc.com — its five fundamental suggestions being to learn, listen, communicate, evaluate the workplace, and get on top of protocols for sanitizing, social distancing and personal protective equipment.

It’s a ton to think about.

“For many businesses in Kansas City, you’ve got a week or so to start to really work through those things and make sure your employees understand the steps that you’re taking,” Reardon says.

As for consumers, Johnson County Department of Health and Environment Director Dr. Sanmi Areola underscores the importance of making new habits of physical distancing, face coverings, handwashing and sanitizing, and coughing and sneezing into tissues or elbows.

Reardon suggests remaining in stay-at-home mode as much as possible in the early stages of reopening, while using personal protective equipment and observing social distancing protocols religiously when doing business out in the public.

He’s right. If we don’t approach this carefully, we may inadvertently cause spikes in infections that result in calls for another shutdown.

The fact is, we will be returning to a world we’ve never been to. The social and business landscape has changed in unexpected and unprecedented ways.

Educate yourself on, and follow, the new coronavirus rules businesses are instituting, Areola advises.

“Even as we go through these phases, we’re going to be interacting in different ways than we have in the past,” Reardon adds. “We’re just going to have to be really careful and very intentional about the way we’re interacting.”

The business community’s best communications strategy right now may be to over-communicate. The Leawood office of dentist Stephen Huber, which isn’t even reopening until May 18, advised patients in an email Monday of all the steps it is taking to keep them safe — including having patients wait in their cars rather than a reception room, screening them for signs of COVID-19, and scrubbing the office air with medical-grade air-decontamination units to “remove particulates down to 0.003 microns to irradiate viruses and other pathogens.”

Indeed, as if they didn’t already have enough to mull over, businesses that cater to the public must not only take huge steps to make it safe, but would be wise to explain those steps to reassure their customers.

At the same time, it’s up to customers and clients to respect the protocols they’ll be asked to observe.

Reentering a world chastened and traumatized by a pervasive pandemic won’t be something we can do absentmindedly. To reengage, we’ll have to first engage.