ST. Paul gradually opens for business

Select counties in Nebraska have been given the green light to open restaurants, salons, massage and tattoo parlors, with limited restrictions.

In Howard County, a cafe has opened its doors public as soon as it could.

“It feels wonderful, we’ve had so many requests when we’re going to be open," said Virginia Schenck, one of the managers for Skyline Cafe.

"It’s just good to be back to work and back in with our community," said Carol Means, another manager.

It’s been a slow start, but the cafe is expecting the ball to gradually start rolling again.

“Our five coffee drinkers came in this morning and were so excited, thanked us for opening," said Schenck.

“We said, ‘well fast food is open.’ They say, ‘we’re sick of fast food. We don’t need any more of that," said Joan Urbanski, the third manager for the establishment.

The crew is making sure to keep things safe not only for themselves but also for patrons.

“We’re doing all our protective measures that we can," said Means.

While restrictions for dining have been eased, not every shop in town is jumping at the opportunity to resume business as usual.

“Just with all the different rules you have to follow and everything, it’s just going to take time," said Kersten Kucera, owner of the County Cage Bar and Grill.

“Our facility is not ready to open back up just for various reasons. We want to, but we just can’t.”

For some restaurants, the slower volume of customers does not make it financially viable to reopen dining rooms.

“It is hard to open back up when we’re short-staffed, and we would need more staff to partial open back up. So, numbers-wise, it really doesn’t make a lot of sense for restaurants right now," Kucera said.

Perception is also a delicate issue with re-opening.

“I have heard a lot of bad things about people who have been opening up, and that’s kind of scary. What if I do open up? And I have a line out the door, and somebody wants to call me in because I’m not doing my part stopping those people from doing that when it’s really out of my control," Kucera said.

“On the other hand, people are saying ‘oh, why are they scared of this, it’s just a flu, there’s nothing to be afraid of, why don’t they just open back up, they’re being selfish,’ stuff like that.”

Salons are also divided between opening their doors and keeping them shut tight. The Red Carpet Salon is taking extensive measures to minimize possible contaminations as they cautiously receive patrons.

For now, St. Paul is, technically, open for business.