Dear Members of the Safety and Health Codes Board:

 I write to you to register my strong opposition to making the COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) permanent.

Businesses are committed to the safety and welfare of customers, employees, and the community of patrons and always have been! While the risk of COVID-19 transmission has not yet been eliminated, I firmly believe that the currently enacted emergency measures are overly burdensome and have negatively affected our regional businesses’ ability to continue operating.  If made permanent many business that have been able to hang on up to now will go under.

Confusing and ambiguous language in the ETS, as well as ever-changing directives from various state and federal health authorities has made running a business in the most challenging of times even harder.

We will continue to make good faith efforts to keep our employees safe and follow public health best practices. Please support your local businesses and reject any extension of the Emergency Temporary Standard.