New restrictions pose minor impact in Washington County

Gov. Kim Reynolds' announcement of new COVID-19 mitigation efforts Monday night will not have any significant impact on most Washington County businesses, schools and organizations.

The most impactful restriction is the new requirement that masks must be worn when inside an indoor space that is open to the public and within 6 feet of individuals who are not members of their household for 15 minutes.

'The only change for us is just pretty much everybody has to wear a mask,” Victor Akgul, owner of Frontier Family Restaurant in Washington said.

Echoing Akgul's thoughts, Jerry Murphy, owner of Murphy's Bar and Grill in Riverside said, 'There are no changes except the requirement to wear a mask when they come in the door.”

The governor's proclamation called for restaurants and bars to close by 10 p.m.

'We had already adjusted our hours,” Murphy said. 'We close at 8 Monday through Thursday and at 9 on Friday and Saturday.

'There's no business in the later hours.”

The YMCA of Washington County, which operates facilities in Washington, Kalona and Wellman, is one organization that is having to make some additional adjustments.

Amy Schulte, CEO of the YMCA of Washington County, said that members must now wear masks in all common areas but are exempt when exercising.

The YMCA is also suspending all of its youth and adult sports programs, as well as live group classes.

'Thankfully, we've been working hard for the past six months to offer virtual classes and pre-recorded classes,” Schulte said. 'We encourage our members who want to stay active to take advantage of that virtual option.”

On Tuesday morning, Schulte received guidance from the state that the pool in Washington can remain open for lap swimming and one-on-one private lessons.

'We can also continue one-on-one personal training,” Schulte said. 'We're still open and doing it in the healthiest way possible.”

Washington school Superintendent Willie Stone said that, while high school sports are allowed to continue with attendance restrictions, all middle school events have been canceled through Dec. 10, when the governor's proclamation expires.

'Youth teams have been using our buildings, but all of that has been canceled, too,” Stone said.

The Washington school district already has a face-covering requirement for students and staff.

'Face coverings are required in the district for all students and staff, and we highly recommend masks,” Stone said. 'I'd say all of our schools have been at 90 percent or better with the use of masks over other face coverings, except for Stewart Elementary, which is where our younger students are.”

Another facet of the new guidelines call for hospitals to set aside 10 percent of intensive care unit beds and 10 percent of its medical/surgical beds for COVID-19 patients.

Amy Vetter, director of foundation and marketing for Washington County Hospital and Clinics, said that WCHC does not have any ICU beds.

'WCHC has 23 licensed beds and currently seven of those are reserved for COVID-19 patients,” Vetter said. 'Our COVID specific beds – negative air pressure rooms – will be increased to nine by the end of this week.”

Washington County Public Health Director Danielle Pettit-Majewski said she hopes the governor's new mitigation efforts help slow the spread of COVID-19.

'We really needed to have additional mitigation efforts put in place, especially with the holidays coming up,” Pettit-Majewski said. 'In public health, we always want to focus on prevention rather than reacting.

'Hopefully, this will help mitigate further spread. It's sad that we've gotten to this point.”