Coronavirus in Highlands

The Town of Highlands is doing a good job at addressing the coronavirus pandemic in this small, but very cosmopolitan, part of the world, where visitors come from all across the country during the summer.  The Town Board declared its own State of Emergency last week, following the State and Federal declarations, and has now passed some additional measures.  In additional to the Town Hall and Rec Park being closed, all restaurants, hotels, and shops are closed.  Curbside take-out is allowed by restaurants, and many are doing that.  Now, in addition to hotels, all short-term rentals have been closed down.  Residents who own homes here and arrive from out-of-state are asked to self-quarantine for 14 days.  The Mayor has put out the word that Highlands is not the place to hide out from the coronavirus! 

Gatherings of more than ten people are also prohibited, and the Police Department is empowered to issue misdemeanor citations.  I realized this morning that the Highlands Roadrunners Club website needed to be updated, so I posted a notice that all group runs have been cancelled, as well as the handful of small area races I had put on the calendar, some of which we had looked forward to running.  I also sent out an e-mail to that effect to all of our local runners.  We will plan to run in groups of one or two with our friends, as we did yesterday, for the immediate future.

Grocery stores, convenience store/gas stations, and hardware stores are exempt from the closings.  This morning when I went to Town on "essential" errands to the Post Office and to buy gasoline for my chainsaw (with latex gloves on my hands), Main Street was nearly empty except for Reeves Hardware.  And I was greeted by this at the Post Office - caution strips applied to the floor indicating six feet of separation between those waiting in line.

"Go ahead," a woman browsing through the greeting card display at the end of the counter told me, and I tiptoed nimbly around her.

All of this will be a tremendous loss to local businesses.  I have often heard that many retail businesses turn a profit based on only three holiday weekends:  Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day.  The first two of these holidays will almost certainly be cancelled, and we aren't even sure about Labor Day, six months from now.  We received the CLE (Center for Life Enrichment) catalog this week, and it looks like most of those classes, lectures, tours, and other events will be cancelled.  We will have to enrich ourselves this summer in other ways.

P. S.  Martha just learned from Facebook that the Town Police have roadblocks set up on all roads to Town!  That is just amazing.  And frightening.