Newark Lets Nonessential Businesses Reopen For Curbside Pickup

Eric Kiefer
·6 min read

NEWARK, NJ — A wave of Newark businesses are being allowed to partially reopen – with lots of restrictions – amid a “steady decline” of new coronavirus cases in the city, officials announced Tuesday.

After Gov. Phil Murphy’s latest orders to loosen the state’s COVID-19 restrictions, Mayor Ras Baraka issued his own executive order that clears the way for “nonessential retail businesses” to hold curbside pickup for customers.

READ MORE: NJ Coronavirus Updates (Here's What You Need To Know)

Shoppers are allowed to order items in advance and pick them up outside of a store, but customers can’t enter the premises to place orders. All nonessential businesses must close by 8 p.m. or risk getting a municipal summons.

Employees are required to wear cloth face coverings and gloves when interacting with other workers or customers, and must wear gloves when in contact with customers or goods. Businesses must provide these items at their own expense. However, workers are allowed to wear their own “surgical-grade mask” or other such protective face covering.

All customers picking up items must wear masks and gloves.

Other highlights of Baraka’s order include:

  • All retail business must ensure and enforce social distancing both inside and outside their establishment

  • All customers must wear masks when entering businesses to make purchases or curbside pickups, including customers bringing items to their vehicles or the customer picking up purchases on foot

  • Retail businesses must limit in-store operations to employees who are responsible for the operations required for curbside pickup

  • Retail businesses must handle customer transactions in advance online or by phone, email, fax, or other means to avoid person-to-person contact

  • Retail business must have visible signs with comprehensive instructions outside the establishment for customers to follow concerning curbside pickups

  • All retail businesses must have security or employees designated to enforce social distancing (the City of Newark Department of Public Safety, Police Division and Code Enforcement will be making random inspections for compliance)

  • All sales, purchases and transactions should be by the preferred means of credit or debit cards or by mobile payment service (for example Apple Pay, Cash App, Venmo, PayPal, Zelle, etc.), however, monetary currency can still be accepted.

  • Customers must notify the retailer by text message, email, or phone once they arrive at the business, or make “best efforts” to schedule their arrival time in advance. The customer shall be asked to remain in their vehicle, if arriving by car, until store staff delivers the purchase.

  • Designated employees must bring goods outside of the retail establishment and place the goods directly in the customer's vehicle.

Under the order, retail businesses must erect parking signage to direct customers/consumers to the curbside pickup area to avoid traffic disruption. To accommodate the unavailability of parking in front of retail establishments, businesses will have to implement procedures with social distancing to allow for consumers lining up outside the establishment, including 6 feet markings on the sidewalk/pavement, or the use of cones between patrons.

In addition, retail businesses must take the following minimum precautions:

  • Employees working for retail businesses must wear the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), including masks and gloves, when delivering a customer’s items curbside

  • The number of people in a retail business shall be limited to 25% of the normal occupancy

  • Direction markers must be placed on the floors and in the aisles so that people are only moving in one direction

  • Infection control practices are required, such as regular hand washing, coughing and sneezing etiquette, and proper tissue usage and disposal

  • Employees must be given break time for repeated handwashing throughout the workday

  • Sanitization materials, such as hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes, must be provided to staff

  • Frequent sanitization of high-touch areas to which workers have access is required

NEWARK: THE PLAN TO REOPEN

The loosening of restrictions for nonessential businesses is one part of a multi-phase plan to reopen the city after officials ordered a shelter-in-place – and later a lockdown – due to the coronavirus crisis.

As of Tuesday, Newark – the state’s most populous city – has seen 6,787 confirmed cases of the virus with 542 deaths linked to the illness, according to Essex County officials.

However, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, according to Mayor Baraka, who said Phase One of the plan to reopen comes as the city is seeing the “steady decline” of new cases.

“We’re going to reopen gradually and responsibly as we continue to assess the data and avoid the potential for exponential spread of COVID-19,” Baraka said. “The restrictions we have put in place up to this point have been working.”

“We don’t want to go backwards and lose the gains we’ve worked so hard to obtain,” the mayor added.

Story continues below

City officials offered the following information regarding the local spread of the virus:

  • On March 14, Newark’s first case of COVID-19 was reported and the first death came three days later.

  • Number of new cases and deaths steadily increased and peaked from April 5-11, in which there were 1,241 new cases and 129 deaths.

  • During that week, a total of 1,827 residents were tested and 68 percent were positive.

  • As Mayor Baraka’s strict enforcement of the stay-at-home order and implementation of “Be Still Mondays” began to “flatten the curve of COVID-19,” the numbers of cases steadily declined.

  • Beginning in May, the weekly rate of infection and number of deaths decreased dramatically. From May 3-9, the city reported 593 new cases of COVID-19 and 21 deaths.

  • Also during that week, 2,957 residents were tested – including the vulnerable senior and homeless populations – and only 20 percent were positive.

  • Even as the number of people tested increased more than 100 percent, new cases decreased by over 50 percent and deaths dropped 84 percent.

“From the onset of COVID-19 making its deadly appearance in mid-March, the city has been tracking the number of cases and locations of those cases,” officials stated in a Tuesday news release.

“The demographics led to the beginning of testing all senior buildings about a month ago, quickly followed by testing of the homeless, the two most vulnerable populations,” officials continued. “Testing is now open to all Newark residents, whether they display symptoms or not.”

Newark officials are expected to release more details about the city’s reopening plan later this week.

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com

Don’t forget to visit the Patch Newark Facebook page. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site. Sign up for Patch email newsletters.

This article originally appeared on the Newark Patch