What makes a Tarrant County business essential? That’s ‘the million dollar question.’
While restaurants and boutique shops sit dark, life goes on in many of Fort Worth’s workplaces as companies and officials grapple with what being “essential” in the age of the novel coronavirus means.
Like most of America, Tarrant County and the city has closed non-essential businesses in attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Last week Fort Worth and Tarrant County ordered residents to stay home unless traveling for essential business.
Tarrant County confirmed 16 new coronavirus cases Monday, bringing the total number to 155. As many as 238 cases may exist in Tarrant County, which had the sixth-highest number of cases in the state.
What makes a business essential is “the million dollar question,” said Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley. Dozens of people have inquired with the Star-Telegram through a Google Form about whether their company should remain open. Whitley said his staff is fielding questions about particular businesses daily. Through March 29, the city of Fort Worth’s special COVID-19 hotline, 817-392-8478, has received nearly 3,000 calls.
The city and county regulations are enforceable through a $1,000 fine and up to 180 days in jail, but Whitley has said law and code enforcement officers are focused on education, not ticketing.
“If this continues to escalate and people choose not to do what we’ve asked, then we’ll have no choice but to enforce,” he said . “That would go for inside our businesses too.”
The Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce has received several inquiries regarding essential business and services. Rather than attempt to interpret declarations, the chamber is directing members to the city and county declarations, said Rebecca Young, senior vice president of advocacy.
“We are stressing that members should absolutely practice social distancing if they remain open,” she said.
When sculpting the county’s regulation, Whitley said he first looked at if a business provides an essential service. Some of those are obvious: grocery stores, pharmacies and medical clinics.
He then considered if the general public could regularly and routinely access the inside of a business, he said. If not, those companies would likely be allowed to stay open because their risk of spreading the virus broadly is limited.
Warehouses would be essential if they supply needed goods, but they may be allowed to stay open anyway because the general public is restricted, he said. Similarly, construction work continues because the general public is not allowed into construction sites and leaving work unfinished can be dangerous and costly.
Last week an employee of a subcontractor working on Globe Life Field tested positive for COVID-19, said the Manhattan Construction Company said in a statement. The employee was stationed in an isolated area of the $1.2-billion ballpark, and the area was cleared of all personnel and cleaned thoroughly.
There are some gray areas in the law.
For instance, Target and Walmart shoppers may still purchase clothes and other goods not related to groceries, while boutiques and other retail stores have closed.
Whitley acknowledged this loophole may seem unfair to small businesses. But short of requiring chain and big-box stores to wall off the grocery section, he said there wasn’t much Tarrant County could do.
“We’ve been encouraging small businesses to sell online or over the phone,” he said. “I know it’s not the best but it’s at least a way to potentially squeeze by and maybe stay open.”
Both Fort Worth’s and Tarrant County’s orders deem real estate transactions as essential business, but Whitley last week discouraged agents from showing properties in person.
In Collin County, differences between the county’s declaration and McKinney’s sparked a lawsuit. There, a real estate agent sued McKinney Mayor George Fuller, saying the city’s order was too restrictive, according to the Dallas Morning News.
The city of Fort Worth worked with Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Arlington and Dallas to draft the most recent declarations so that the list of essential businesses is similar in each city, the city said in statement. Fort Worth’s declaration also mirrors Tarrant County’s.
Those restrictions are constantly being tweaked, Whitley said.
Originally the county’s mandate closed gun shops, which Whitley argued were not essential for fighting the coronavirus. But late last week Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ruled gun shops could remain open across the state.
Whitley said his office is constantly fielding calls from employees and business owners curious about their company.
“They might call up with something and we’ll say ‘golly I hadn’t thought of that,’ so we’ll go back and make some changes,” he said. “There’s no way in the world I can put out a list that tells you everything that is and everything that isn’t essential.”
This story was originally published March 31, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
