SALT LAKE CITY — Wariness about the coronavirus has changed the face of downtown Salt Lake City.
Normally busy with people on a Saturday night, Salt Lake City was anything but bustling Saturday.
In downtown, decisions to practice “social distancing” — together with the cancelation of theater and sporting events — has resulted in a rather quiet time on the streets of the capital city with a significant decrease in usual patronage for local businesses. Some establishments reported at least a 20 percent decline in their normal weekend service as fewer people ventured out.
For those who work in the service industry, that means a lot less money in their bank accounts and increasing uncertainty in their short-term futures.
“The last couple of days, it’s been pretty dead and has been very slow business-wise,” said Josue Mejicanos, who works as a server at two downtown eateries. “I was averaging about $1,500 a week and I’m averaging about $600, $700 or so. It’s cut down a lot.”
He added that restaurants are reducing staff daily, which is resulting in uncertainty and dread for many people in his line or work.
“We’re not having the same amount of staff as we usually do outside. Everybody’s losing shifts,” he said. “People are worried about money, and it’s just been slow. We’re closing early every night because there’s no reason to be open.”
In Summit County, the Park City Restaurant Association issued a directive Saturday that establishments prohibit inside dining and accept only phone orders for curbside pickup. All orders are to be paid for over the phone, with no in-person transactions using cash or credit. In addition, no third party delivery services such as Uber Eats, DoorDash or Grubhub will be allowed.
That decision was made after the county reported its fifth coronavirus case, a man who works at a Park City bar who became Utah’s first case of community transmission of the virus since he hasn’t traveled out of state. He worked the front desk of the bar checking IDs while symptomatic and came in contact with potentially hundreds of customers.
Health officials say the risk to patrons of the Spur Bar and Grill is low, but said anyone who visited there on or after March 6 should monitor their temperature and if they develop symptoms, call a doctor about being formally tested. Employees at the bar and their families are under self-quarantine.
Saturday night, Salt Lake residents Steve Jacobson and Peter Moosman decided to brave the hazard and grab a bite in downtown Salt Lake City, explaining they were not overly concerned with becoming infected because they are taking all the prescribed precautions.
“We’re not going to any major events or anything and I’m uncomfortably extroverted and I can’t stay inside very long,” Moosman said.
“I just want to be out and about,” Jacobson said. “It’s nice weather, I want to see what’s going on.”
“It’s not really affecting me. I work in a department store, so I don’t work in an industry necessarily that it’s that big of a concern,” he added. “(Customers) are not coming as much as they were, but we sanitize. We do what we’re supposed to and I don’t think about that much. I’m not that concerned about it.”
Despite the nationwide state of emergency, Moosman said he is still not worried about becoming infected.
“I think that theoretically, with all that is happening right now, the threat of contagion is pretty minimal. So I don’t think that a lot needs to change as long as we’re maintaining proper hygiene and these things that we should be doing anyway during flu season. As long as we’re doing those things, I don’t think that there should be a threat.”
Others like Tyler Kimmel and Nikki Luthenen were hoping to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and get a meal at one of their favorite downtown dining spots. As it turned out, the limited crowds allowed them to get a seat without waiting and they were able to make the best of it.
“We went to Pretty Bird because we thought no one will be there, so we can finally go and not stand in line,” she said. “We’re just trying our best to be careful. Every place we went has been sanitizing very openly. There’s been a lot of measures taken, so I feel safe.”
“The first bar he went to, the man who was working at the bar was spraying everything,” Kimmel said. “I’m personally not worried. I mean, I rarely ever get sick in general.”
Luthenen said while she wasn’t particularly worried about contracting coronavirus, there are others who could be more susceptible to becoming sick.
“I’m more concerned about affecting people who are vulnerable. Myself, I will be fine,” she said. “I’m more concerned about people that I might hurt through contact. I’m just hoping people that are vulnerable will take precautions that they need to take.”