Small business owners in this New York town call on governor to lift COVID-19 restrictions
Port Chester is in an 'orange zone,' which means gyms, fitness centers and barbershops are closed
Roughly 50 small business owners in Port Chester, N.Y., gathered on Monday to urge local officials and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to lift the city's COVID-19 orange zone restrictions.
Port Chester, located in Westchester County, was designated as the first orange warning zone by Cuomo in mid-November. The orange zone requires that non-essential businesses considered 'high-risk' including gyms, fitness centers and classes, barbershops, hair salons and other personal care services must shut down. In addition, bars and restaurants can only offer outdoor dining, takeout and delivery. The establishments are ordered to close at 10 p.m. and with limited seating of four customers to a table.
In order to qualify for the orange zone, an area has to have a 7-day rolling average positivity above 3% for 10 days and 10 or more new daily cases per 100,000 residents on a 7-day average, according to New York's guidelines.
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XS Hair Salon owner Magaly Cochachi told FOX Business that the restrictions have turned Port Chester into a "ghost town" that has taken away the opportunity for businesses to earn back lost revenue during the holiday season as a result of the ongoing shutdowns. She worries that some of her clients may never return due to the bad perception the restrictions are putting on businesses.
"We haven't seen a lot of our clients because they're scared," she said. "At least before we were all in it together, at least before we were all shut down. But for you to exclude us like this, leave us out for no reason...it just doesn't make any sense."
Anna Manessis, the owner of F45 Training Portchester, believes that the restrictions are just picking winners and losers, noting that despite being in the same zip code and having the same positivity rates as neighboring cities like Rye and Greenwich, Port Chester is the only area that is in the orange zone and shut down.
"Nobody's going to wait for my facility to open. They just going to go where they can work out indoors now, which is any other place that's open," Manessis added. "So I think that [the restrictions] just set businesses up in other areas and surrounding towns that are open to gain off of our loss."
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When asked if the city provided scientific data to back up their decision to place the city in the orange zone, Port Chester business owners all said that they were given no data to support the restrictions.
"There's no rhyme or reason to it and there's no transparency behind any of it," Manessis said. "Nobody has any answers. Nobody knows what's going on. Nobody can help. Nobody can provide any information. They don't even know what's going on."
On Monday, Cuomo said during a press conference that the state has "so many protocols on the gyms and salons, they are not major spreaders on the numbers."
Manessis said that data from her daily health screenings back that up, with no cases traced back to her fitness studio.
"This is an indefinite closure," she said. "We're not the cause of this spread. There is data behind it. I have the data, the [Department of Health] has the data, but the governor is not sharing what he thinks is the reason why these businesses should be closed."
Angela Venegas, the owner of Sempre Bella Hair Salon, noted that both she and other small business owners have tried to contact Port Chester Mayor Richard Falanka for more information, but that she has been unable to get through and that no real action is being taken to alleviate the situation.
"He doesn't get back to anybody when we call to ask questions. He hasn't said not one thing about how he's going to help small businesses," Venegas said. "The only thing that he has to offer is to tell us that we should sell gift cards and promote gift cards, which is hard because if that's the case, the money is going to be coming into us at the moment. But if we can't open back up again, those gift cards are not good and then we owe people the money. So he has not been an advocate to this whole thing whatsoever and it's really disappointing."
Representatives for Cuomo and Falanka did not immediately return FOX Business' requests for comment.
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Carlos Santos, owner of Acqui Es Santa Fe restaurant, added that despite passing over $2 trillion in stimulus earlier this year for big corporations, the federal government has also hung small businesses out to dry.
“We’re letting [small businesses] die. There's no real help. There’s no legislation," Santos said. "I think that there needs to be comprehensive legislation passed to really help small businesses get back on their feet."
He warned that, if local and federal officials don't offer additional stimulus and clear guidelines backed by science, closures during the winter months will make the situation direr for small businesses.
According to the Westchester Department of Health, Port Chester reported nine new cases and 229 active cases Thursday. Port Chester has had a total of 2,175 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.