As the United States faces a resurgence of coronavirus cases, a business owner in California and a general manager in Maine, who depend on tourism, explained on Sunday in “America’s News HQ” how they are forced to navigate through of new travel restrictions during the pandemic.
“It doesn’t look like we’re going back to normal any time soon,” said Renae Perry, co-owner of the Papapietro Perry winery in Healdsburg, California. Healdsburg is in Sonoma County and part of the California wine country.
She went on to say, “Personally, I feel like this will continue for a long time, so we will have to adapt our business.”
Perry added that she already “made so many changes” to her business during the pandemic, which included the addition of virtual tastings.
“Every day I feel like I have to reinvent my business to keep up with things,” Perry said, adding that he will continue to “adjust” if necessary.
Perry made the comments when the United States recorded fewer than 50,000 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday for the first time in four days, while the world set a world record for confirmed infections in a 24-hour period, the World Health Organization reported.
Perry noted Sunday that he has been able to open and serve guests outside.
“We are fortunate to have a large patio and we have everyone six feet away. All of our employees wear masks, our guests wear masks, so we are being very careful cleaning everything in between, ”said Perry.
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She went on to say that although she was able to open, “clearly business is not as usual.”
“We are not receiving guests from other states as we normally would,” added Perry. “We generally have quite a few visitors from across the country right now and we’ve noticed that most of our guests are from the local Bay area.”
Perry said that if she will be forced to close her business once again due to the increase in coronavirus cases, “she will happily comply because we really want to make sure everyone stays healthy.”
She went on to point out that “fortunately, the alcohol and wine business has been quite good during this virus because people stay home, I think, and drink from their cellar.”
He explained that overall, “the business went from face-to-face to online, so we were able to deal with everything,” adding that he still preferred to see the guests in person and hoped he wouldn’t have to close again.
Hostess Alicia Acuña noted that there have currently been 15 states “that have some form of travel restrictions.” She then asked Tina Hewett-Gordon, general manager of Nonantum Resort in Kennebunkport, Maine, how business has been going, especially since many of the states with travel restrictions surround Maine.
“It’s nothing like we’ve seen it in the past,” said Hewett-Gordon. “Is slow.”
Nonantum Resort reopened about a month ago after being closed due to coronavirus closing orders.
“In the month of June, we would normally be sitting with an occupancy of around 70 percent,” he continued. “Last June, we registered 8 percent. And, our forecast for July and August would normally be around 90 percent occupancy, and we are seeing numbers between 25 and 30 percent for next season. “
Hewett-Gordon went on to say that she had some issues with the restrictions Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat, imposed on people coming to Maine from other states.
According to information provided by the Maine Tourism Association, as of July 3, visitors to Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey can visit Maine and stay in commercial lodging establishments without quarantine requirements and without COVID testing required.
For visitors from all other states who wish to stay in commercial lodging establishments, they must be quarantined for 14 days or sign a certificate of compliance indicating that they have tested negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours before arriving in the state. .
“The problem with that is that evidence is not available,” said Hewett-Gordon. “It is causing a lot of frustration and resentment in people who normally come to Maine.”
She went on to say that it is also “frustrating” for her. She said she is grateful to be able to accept Connecticut, New York and New Jersey residents, but added that “the fact that we cannot accept Massachusetts residents is very frustrating because the message is unclear on how the governor is determining which states can and he can not enter “.
Hewett-Gordon noted that the number of COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts “is actually lower than some of those other states.”
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“I really think this is going to change people’s reserve patterns, and the impact it has on our industry is devastating,” he added, “obviously for employees as well. Right now, we only have a staff level of 20 per hundred “.
Alicia Acuña and Peter Aitken of Fox News contributed to this report.
