Oneida County releases reopening guidance

As eligible businesses prepared to reopen on Friday, Oneida County has released guidance business owners are advised to follow ahead of opening their doors.

Copeland.

17 thousand people in oneida county are unemployed.

Many have not received unemployment checks yet.... and are eager to get back to earning a living.

Friday marks the start of phase one of reopening.

--construction, manufacturing, curbside retail and more.

Today -- businesses got access to a checklist to follow.

The checklist includes..... making a list of your employees and determining who needs to work on site and who can work remotely..... outline social distance policies and screening policies.

Identify surfaces that need to be cleaned regularly.

There are a couple dozen items on the checklist.

Should mention -- this doesn't need to be submitted to anyone.

It's a guide.

Newschannel two's jason powles is live here in the studio to take a closer look at how businesses can reopen safely.

Kristen good evening.

Oneida county executive anthony picente released the all important reopeining tool kit today so businesses have a detailed guide book if you will to reopen smartly and safely...its information all six counties in the mohawk valley region can follow.

There are 8 major sections to this guide.

First establish an on-site coordinator...that person can help draft a plan and maintain it.

Assess essential functions: businesses may have to chance business practices to maintain operations.

Also asses personnel policies...that brings human resources into play.

Then a section on tools on how to create or update the policies...thats where the social distancing guidelines come in.

Also, there's a section on facility assessment...making sure all services are ready to go.

Sanitization...that is big especially since that business may have been closed for such a long period of time.

Communcation is another section...with employees, customers and vendors.

And the final section is a customer engagement plan...making sure the public knows your new policies regarding social distancing and ppe.

The county executive all of this applies if different areas, whether its indoor or outdoor work, these areas need to be adhered to, and will be putting yourselfin s safety and clearly the people you serve.

Picente said right now the assumption is that phase one businesses can open and start working on friday morning.

He is still awaiting for the official executive order from the governor's office.

So lets take a look at the numbers in oneida