Dallas Businesses Fail Reopening Test, But Many Are Still Staying Indoors

Businesses in Dallas, Texas aren’t having the easiest time following the rules of social distancing as they reopen, according to a survey on Mark Cuban’s Blog Maverick.

For one, only 36 percent of businesses opened at all on opening weekend, Cuban’s blog states.

Of those that did, 96 percent weren’t compliant with all recommended guidelines.

A breakdown of the various guidelines showed that well over half of the surveyed stores weren’t using contactless payments, and a majority of restaurants weren’t using single-use condiments. Over 25 percent weren’t doing social distancing or using disposable menus. Just under 25 percent didn’t have staff wearing masks or tables disinfected.

The fact that so few businesses opened at all is indicative of the trend noted by a recent PYMNTS survey, which found that dying or causing family or friends to die are by far the primary concerns of Americans living through the pandemic. Around 25 to 35 percent of all respondents cited those as primary concerns.

By comparison, the amount of people worried about the economic concerns, such as losing investments or being out of work, first and foremost were only numbered in the single digits.

And overall, people are likely to be scarred by the threat of the virus for some time. Many are not in a rush to return to the world, another PYMNTS survey found, with a quarter of those surveyed saying they were “not at all interested” in returning to public life right now.

The percentage who were “very” or “extremely” interested in going back out and resuming public life immediately was under 30 percent.

Small numbers of people say they’ll want to keep the changes in their lives from the pandemic. Thirteen percent of survey respondents said they’d likely continue the quarantine way of living in the future rather than resume going out often to restaurants, for groceries or for other shopping needs.

But true to their rebellious spirits, a small number of Texas businesses have defied the state’s phased reopening orders even at the risk of jail time, according to The Wall Street Journal. Salon owner Shelly Luther didn’t wait long, deciding to reopen her business on April 24 and fearlessly bucking restraining orders and legal mandates to close.

She spent two days in jail before Gov. Greg Abbott modified the rules of his orders to eliminate jail time as a punishment.

There have been other outliers — the owner of the bar Big Daddy Zane’s, Gabrielle Ellison, found her place of business raided by a SWAT team when it opened early and several customers were illegally carrying weapons inside. Ellison bailed herself out and proceeded to continue to serve drinks despite government rules.