With today’s announcement from New York State that the North Country is starting Phase 3 of the reopening process, the St. Lawrence County Reopening Task Force is providing summary guidance and further information for local businesses, communities, and citizens in the county.

Phase 3 begins at midnight and allows indoor restaurant and food services and personal care services to resume at 50% capacity. All restaurants and food services establishments, including food trucks and other food concessions may open indoor spaces with seating for customers as part of this phase. Personal care services eligible to reopen include tattoo and piercing facilities, appearance enhancement practitioners, massage therapy, spas, cosmetology, nail specialty, UV and non-UV tanning, or waxing.

Each industry is subject to specific state guidelines to maximize safety and social distancing.

Business guidance for phase three of the state’s reopening plan is available at

https://forward.ny.gov/phase-three-industries. As an example, for personal care services, guidelines state that “Customers must only be permitted entry into the facility if they wear an acceptable face covering, provided that the customer is over the age of 2 and able to medically tolerate such a covering.”

According to St. Lawrence County IDA CEO and Reopening Task Force Chair Patrick J. Kelly,

“Awareness of these guidelines, and compliance from businesses and customers, is necessary for public health and safety and to keep us moving through the reopening process. Smart, safe steps now are essential to bring us closer to a normal functioning economy.”

Businesses should confirm eligibility to reopen at Forward.ny.gov. This site provides industry listings by phase and offers a lookup tool for those who do not fit within the general industries outlined to determine their status. This site also has the guidelines that every business needs to review and affirm in order to resume operations and templates for creating Safely Plans which are also required for reopening.

The requirements on both essential businesses and those that have opened through earlier phases in the reopening plan remain in effect.

Businesses seeking assistance with the reopening process can contact:

Small Business Development Center 315-386-7312, www.nyssbdc.org

St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce 315-386-4000, https://www.visitstlc.com/covid-19/

St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency 315-379-9806, www.slcida.com

St. Lawrence Cooperative Extension 315-379-9192, http://stlawrence.cce.cornell.edu/