The green light to reopen caught many South Lake Tahoe businesses by surprise

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - When the news hit that the Sacramento Region was moving out of the stay-at-home order Tuesday evening, the announcement caught many by surprise, especially those businesses that had been closed since it went into effect December 10, 2020.

South Lake Tahoe and the rest of El Dorado County are part of the Sacramento Region and even though the current availability of ICU beds is under 10 percent, the four-week projection is over the benchmark of 15 percent.

"The removal of stay-at-home order really stunned me," said Teresa Bertrand, owner of BioSpirit Day Spa in South Lake Tahoe. "I had to look at the press release a few times."

Bertrand is not rushing to get reopened and waiting until the big holiday weekend is almost over to open her doors.

"While I am grateful to have the choice to reopen, we are definitely going to control the flow in and out of the spa," said Bertrand. "We feel secure in our protocols and how we are handling all this."

Debbie Brown, owner of Cold Water Brewery was up and going with outdoor dining Thursday, about a month before she expected to have anything more than to-go food at the popular South Lake Tahoe restaurant and brewery.

"It caught me by surprise," said Brown of the dropping of the order. "I was very excited as it saves the amount of 0's we had to swallow." With fixed monthly expenses, the to-go orders weren't paying the bills, but reopening will allow her to catch up.

Brown opened Cold Water Brewery in 2014 and normally employs 42-47 people, around 30 recently when they lost the ability to serve outside diners. The risk of closing down concerned her as she didn't want to lose the staff.

"What makes us so special are the people," she said. Brown said it's also important to keep them safe, so Cold Water Brewery has followed all of the mandates.

Now that diners are welcome back outside, Brown is working on keeping her supply of propane full. It costs about $5,000 per month to to keep the 28 vessels going to provide warmth for the customers.

Brown is part of the City of South Lake Tahoe's Short-Term Task Force, a group of representatives from many different areas that looked for innovative ways to keep the economy going through initiatives including PPE procurement, rewards for eco-friendly single use containers, and a city-owned propane center.

"We were caught off guard when we were allowed to open back up this time," said Angela Zajic, owner of Rah Hair Studio. "We thought we'd be closed for much longer."

Hair salons like Rah already had a strict list of protocols for reopening after the last shut down, and Zajic and the team at Rah were strictly following them when the stay-at-home order came down just at the beginning of their busy holiday season.

"While we feel our safety protocol was already over the top, we've added another layer with Test Well," said Zajic. "The most important thing right now is to keep our staff, clients and families safe." Test Well, owned by her husband Charles, will conduct COVID tests on the stylists often so they can keep on top of the coronavirus.

The minute the State lifted the stay-at-home order Zajic was excitedly on her phone alerting clients and Rah team that the doors were open once again.

Also on the phone Tuesday was Michelle Benedict, owner of Pinnacle Lake Tahoe Getaways. She manages several vacation home rentals in South Lake Tahoe and has been shut down for over a month to follow the State orders. The moment the stay-at-home was lifted her "phone was blowing up" with owners ready to get their homes back up for rent.

Benedict, Bertrand and Zajic all chose to close their businesses instead of being open, per state guidance. Brown shut down all except for to-go orders, as mandated.

Over at Ernie's Coffee Shop, owners Nathan Bergner and Kent Baer are open, but not able to provide full-service outside due to their setup. They do have some tables outside that customers can use for their to-go orders.

"Kent and I are committed to following public health guidelines knowing that they will lead to better times in the future," said Bergner. "We feel extremely grateful for the people who continue to place orders and our incredible landlords. Their support has allowed us to make these decisions knowing that the business will survive. I know that not every restaurant owner has the luxury of making that choice."

"The last four weeks have been challenging and conflicting," said Bertrand. "I have seen the crowds of people up here, and know that each business and individuals need to make their own choices. There is a real struggle of 'fairness' during these times and we all need to dig into our own personal ethics and choose what is best for our individual situations."