Guam bars open Wednesday, however await Public Well being’s last steerage
Tower of London proprietor John Agualo met together with his employees Tuesday afternoon to gear up for Wednesday’s grand reopening of the island’s bars.
Every part is in place to welcome patrons once more, stated bar house owners and managers—aside from Public Well being’s last security insurance policies.
“I’ve already submitted my plan of motion to Public Well being. However this needs to be one thing spearheaded by Public Well being. Public Well being ought to arrange the rules that everyone has to stick to,” Agualo stated. “My plan of motion is completely completely different from all the opposite bars which are opening up.”
Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero on Friday gave bars the inexperienced gentle to open 5 p.m. Wednesday at 50% occupancy. Public Well being was nonetheless engaged on the particular guidelines for bars and taverns, together with whether or not patrons will probably be allowed to get their drinks on the bar or have to be served tableside, Public Well being Director Arthur San Agustin stated final week. That is why bars and taverns aren’t allowed to reopen till Wednesday.
Associated:‘We have simply been ready’: Bars able to reopen this weekend
As of Tuesday afternoon, Public Well being had not launched formal steerage for bars’ and taverns’ reopening. The rules will element what bars can and may’t do, and what particular COVID-19 precautions institutions should undertake.
“In any other case it is just like the wild, wild west. All people can observe their plan of motion, but it surely’s not the identical,” Agualo stated. “So long as now we have a set commonplace that everybody has to stick to.”
Both manner, his Tumon bar will open 5 p.m. Wednesday. He is thrilled and nervous.
“Simply the uncertainty,” he stated. “All I can do is study from the previous, study from different individuals’s errors and transfer ahead. However we’re excited.”
The employees at Drop in Tumon spent days making ready for Wednesday’s official reopening.
“Truthfully, this complete 12 months has simply been like, I do not even know the way I really feel anymore,” stated co-owner Jon Hsieh. “I’ve simply been actually busy attempting to get the bar again into form. We have simply spent the final three, 4 days cleansing, deep cleansing and getting the whole lot sorted out.”
Drop opens 7 p.m. Wednesday, after the months-long obligatory closure resulting from a surge in COVID-19 circumstances in August.
“We’ll simply take it from there, see what occurs,” he stated. “I am so targeted on getting this place prepared, I do not even really feel excited in any respect, I am similar to, OK, let’s simply get this finished.”
Murmurs that the island would see relaxed restrictions started within the final two weeks, adopted by the governor’s official announcement on Friday. Guam moved to Pandemic Situation of Readiness 3 on Monday.
“It was form of sudden. We have now to get our workers again, now we have to coach them on security. It is simply a lot work, no time for emotions,” Hsieh stated. “What they did do over at Public Well being was inform us to only submit our personal tips, and so they’d get again to us, and tell us if it wasn’t ample.”
Business-specific reopenings, resembling salons, required companies to submit security plans to GovGuam. Public Well being adopted with total protocol for all institutions inside an business to observe.
Extra:Public Well being steerage: 75% capability for retail shops, 50% for bars
Bars are typically mimicking what eating places are doing, in response to Hsieh.
“It is just about what the foundations have been for god is aware of how lengthy,” he stated. “It is not irritating. It is fairly easy what to do.”
Ronda Bengfort, supervisor of Tumon-based Porky’s Bar, has the companies’ security procedures in place. Like Agualo, she is anxious for Public Well being’s last steerage.
“It is truly scary, as a result of you might have the opportunity of getting in bother for one thing that you simply’re doing that you simply did not know that you simply could not do,” she stated. “It is form of open-ended proper now. You do not wish to be answerable for being shut down once more.”
For now, Bengfort plans to have two bartenders making drinks, and one other floating round to serve clients. Some normal steerage launched Monday for Pandemic Situation of Readiness 3 got here as a shock, resembling Public Well being stating that clients “should chorus from cheering or singing alongside.”
“How are you supposed to maintain individuals from singing?” Bengfort stated. “I might assume it is to maintain individuals form of docile, however everyone sings alongside to the songs.”
This will probably be a hurdle for one more time.
“We aren’t doing dwell music this weekend, simply because we’re attempting to get everyone again within the groove,” Bengfort stated. “We’ll do it will definitely. We simply wish to get the bar again open.”
Porky’s opens 5 p.m. Wednesday. Bengfort will probably be prepared for Public Well being’s bar-specific steerage each time it comes.
“If they arrive out with it an hour earlier than we open, we’ll be certain that everybody is aware of what they should do,” she stated. “Usually, we do not open till 7, however since we have not been open in so lengthy and we’re simply ready to go, we will open at 5.”
Reporter Anumita Kaur covers navy, enterprise, authorities and tourism on Guam. Observe her on Twitter @anumitakaur. Attain her at akaur@guampdn.com.
