By: Antho­ny Zepperi 
June 26, 2020
The Wind­sor Journal 

Local busi­ness­es have suc­cess­ful­ly reopened to the pub­lic after being closed for a few months to slow the spread of the coro­n­avirus. These busi­ness­es, which have been opened since last Wednes­day with lim­i­ta­tions, include restau­rants, bar­ber shops, libraries and sports facil­i­ties as part of the state’s phase two reopen­ing plan.

Town Man­ag­er Peter Souza said that it is essen­tial that busi­ness­es reopen for the bet­ter­ment of the community.

“The abil­i­ty for both small and larg­er busi­ness­es to open with prop­er pre­cau­tions is vital not only for the busi­ness own­ers and their employ­ees, but to the gen­er­al com­mu­ni­ty,” Souza said. “It is impor­tant that local busi­ness as well as the nation­al busi­ness here in town get restarted.”

Gaye Riz­zo, direc­tor of The Wind­sor Library, said that re-open­ing the library is essen­tial for peo­ple in the community.

“We can pro­vide access to mate­ri­als that peo­ple are search­ing for which can be ben­e­fi­cial to them,” Riz­zo said. “Peo­ple have suf­fered emo­tion­al­ly and have been iso­lat­ed for long peri­ods of time.”

Riz­zo said that the library is fol­low­ing the governor’s phase two guidelines.

These guide­lines include wear­ing masks and six feet social dis­tanc­ing as well as lim­it­ing the amount of peo­ple who vis­it the facil­i­ty, accord­ing to Rizzo.

Souza said that it will take a while before the town’s oper­a­tions go back to nor­mal with­out limitations.

“Town facil­i­ties and pro­grams will be reopened and restart­ed in a phased approach uti­liz­ing guid­ance from the State of Con­necti­cut,” Souza said. “I am opti­mistic that by mid to late sum­mer many of our pro­grams will be offered but in a mod­i­fied fash­ion to ensure safe­ty for patrons and staff.”

As for employ­ees, Souza said that it is great to have work­ers back after a lengthy amount of time off which can help to improve the economy.

“I’m pleased to see our busi­ness­es bring­ing back to work employ­ees as this will help to prime the local econ­o­my and in-turn the region’s econ­o­my,” Souza said. “Also, as indi­vid­u­als it is impor­tant to con­tribute and feel like you’re part of a larg­er orga­ni­za­tion and mis­sion, and employ­ment can do that.”

 Souza said that these new lim­i­ta­tions should help to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

“Over­all the guide­lines are an appro­pri­ate set of pre­cau­tions and with most cit­i­zens and patrons respec­tive­ly fol­low­ing them I feel lim­it­ing the COVID virus from grow­ing can be achieved,” Souza said.