Milwaukee Stores Putting Safety Measures On The Table With COVID Cases Rising Again

Business owners in Milwaukee say the rise of the COVID-19 delta variant is forcing them to rethink the safety measures in place at their stores. Business leaders say the rise in cases is bringing pandemic challenges back to the forefront.

The state’s seven-day average of new confirmed cases is 854, as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. That’s up from 73 at the start of July.

Luke Lavin owns Bullseye Records in Milwaukee. He lifted mask requirements at his store at the start of June, having gradually returned to normal business after being entirely closed in the early days of the pandemic. As of Wednesday, he has not reinstated those safety measures.

Lavin said while there have been fewer customers in recent weeks, sales numbers are remaining about where they were pre-pandemic.

“The ones that are coming in are, maybe they have more disposable income, or they’re spending more time at home,” said Lavin. “They want to enjoy that time by listening to records and CDs.”

Lavin said even taking the delta variant into account, a new mask requirement could hurt business from people who don’t support COVID-19 safety measures.

“While I don’t think they’re correct, you know, I do have to think of the success of my business too,” said Lavin. “It’s trying to walk the fine line between protecting our customers and protecting my bottom line.”

Lavin said adapting to COVID-19 changes has been a “trial and error” process.

“It would help if we had more leadership from local and federal governments, more consistency of messaging,” said Lavin. “It’s hard when business A says, ‘Nobody has to wear a mask, come on in, everything’s back to normal,’ and people that are more interested in protecting our customers say, ‘Listen, if you want to shop here, you have to wear a mask.’ You’re gonna miss out on some customers because of that.”

For the most part, Lavin said mitigation measures at Bullseye Records have received “a lot of positive feedback.” He said for now, he’s hoping for the best and following good protection procedures.

“I think we need to get more people on the same page,” said Lavin. “Maybe the rise in the spread of the variants will influence some people who were not convinced by raw data and scientific evidence.”

The delta variant is also leading stores more reliant on in-person events to consider whether to continue those events.

Milwaukee chain Board Game Barrister has reinstituted a mask requirement for its events starting Wednesday. A requirement for attendees to be fully vaccinated has been in place since events started back up in June.

Details of further changes are fluid, and in-store events could ultimately be canceled again, Gordon Lugauer, president of Board Game Barrister, said in an email.

“Welcome to Small Business Pandemic Edition where you can take your pick of which unpleasantness you wish to subject your staff to: infectious virus that has a chance of being severe, or unhappy customers that have a higher chance of being bullies,” said Lugauer. “Or, take the middle road and get both! What a bargain!”

Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, said businesses hit hard by the pandemic have been making a comeback.

“They’ve started to reemerge again, but unfortunately, so has the delta variant,” said Sheehy. “That’s putting a little bit of a dampening effect on some of those businesses coming back.”

Sheehy said while challenges such as supply chain issues and job openings remain, “the economy has come roaring back.”

But Sheehy said the pandemic’s resurgence “really attacks employee confidence and consumer confidence.”

“Getting employees to return back to work is becoming a challenge again with the rise of the delta variant, and then getting people to go out again and engage in consumer behavior, where they’re in the public or they’re in a closed space, is also a bit challenging,” said Sheehy. “Hopefully … this rollercoaster doesn’t drop as low as it did at the beginning of COVID.”

Sheehy said vaccines and a year and a half of experience with the pandemic have helped matters.

“I think that you’re gonna see some caution, but I don’t see mandates coming back,” said Sheehy. “I think that genie’s out of the bottle.”

Sheehy said while many businesses are encouraging masking and some are having employees mask up, the stores requiring masks are few and far between, with employee comfort and consumer confidence primarily driving decisions on what to do.

Even so, Sheehy said more places may take advantage of technology to put vaccination requirements into place, like in San Francisco, where bars are requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test to sit inside.

“It’s all based around giving employers and consumers confidence that the interaction is going to be healthy,” said Sheehy.

The city of Milwaukee’s health department is back to recommending people wear a mask indoors, whether or not they’ve been vaccinated. Counties across the state area making similar recommendations.