Doors open a little wider for businesses as COVID risk drops

“We are just excited that we get to have the opportunity to have more people here,” said Roach. “On weekends especially it will help improve the flow of customers so it’s much better. It will give us more flexibility with the space.”

Friday marked a small victory for pubs, restaurants, gyms, and other places of business hit hard by the COVID-19 lockdowns. The falling numbers of cases allowed them to increase seating capacity, boosting morale and potentially bottom lines too.

Deschutes County moved to moderate risk, which allows indoor dining, entertainment, and recreational centers to go to 50% capacity or 100 people, whichever is smaller. Rules are also loosened for the number of people at indoor and outdoor gatherings, as well as in stores and malls.

Jefferson and Crook counties also moved downward in risk as Central Oregon has seen new case counts fall in recent weeks. Weekly case counts are back down to levels not seen since late October, less than 30 a day.

At Mio Sushi, even though some tables will have to remain empty, Roach said offering more seats allows a little more wiggle room when trying to reduce the wait time.

“I will take anything honestly,” Roach said. “After going so many months without being able to serve any tables, any extra seating helps.”

Some restaurants in Bend are still holding off on letting customers dine in. An employee at Cafe Yumm in the Old Mill District said the fast-casual restaurant has no immediate plans to reopen for indoor seating.

Breweries in Bend are also welcoming the move but some add they have been managing the high and extreme risk categories by offering outdoor seating.

“Most people still choose to be outside,” said James Watts, owner of Silver Moon Brewery. “We’ve done a great job of creating an inviting and warm space on the patio.”

Other restaurants are looking forward to the changes.

Elayne Hodge, general manager of the Original Pancake House in Redmond, said the switch to moderate makes her “hopeful and optimistic” that Deschutes County is on pace to a return toward normality.

“Just getting into the moderate range shows that we are hopefully turning a corner,” said Hodge. “As more people get vaccinated in our community, that just helps that process along.”

For the past five weeks, the Pancake House was open but only permitted to seat 35 people at a time. On weekends the wait to get inside was an hour and a half. Now that 65 people can sit inside, Hodge thinks the weekend wait time will drop to 20 or 30 minutes.

“The wait will be reduced immensely on the weekends,” said Hodge.

Despite the long waits, Hodge said the community has been supportive.

“We have seen a really big outpouring from the community. They have really supported us very well,” she said.

The lowering of restrictions is certain to help gyms, athletic clubs and fitness centers.

The Athletic Club of Bend in the southwest part of the city was closed for nearly six months over the past year to comply with Gov. Kate Brown’s COVID-19 orders. The sporadic closures “significantly impacted membership level,” said Kip Heilman, the club’s manager.

At the moderate risk level, the club can now have 400 members working out in the 135,000-square-foot facility. But Heilman said the loss of so many members means that he doesn’t expect to have more than 40 or 50 people in the building at a time.

Still, Heilman is pleased that the county risk level dropped and expects upward progress.

“I remain hopeful that we as a community continue to do what we can to moderate our exposure and subsequently allow more businesses to expand reopening for all customers,” said Heilman.

Tread Tabata, which has spin, treadmill, and workout classes at a new facility on Bend’s east side, is increasing its class size from eight participants to 13. That is well short of the potential class size of 28 people, but owner Audrey DeRosa is still glad the numbers are going higher.

“This is really exciting for us because we have had waitlists for our classes,” said DeRosa. “The demand is high, so we are looking forward to accommodating more members.”

DeRosa said even 13 people per class won’t allow her business to turn a profit. The multiple lockdowns have sent her finances into a deficit and turning a profit could take another year of stable business operations at full capacity, she said.

Until that time she is happy just to give Bendites an outlet to work out with others.

“People are excited to get back in the gym. It has improved their mood and overall well-being to work out with a community,” said DeRosa. “It has improved both physical and mental health.”