Lake County hunkers down and carries on

Faced with ever-tightening coronavirus restrictions, Lake County residents, businesses and organizations are adapting and supporting each other.

Governor Steve Bullock declared a state of emergency March 12, just before the first suspected COVID-19 cases appeared in Montana, allowing access to $16 million in emergency funding, and enabling legal requirements such as limiting public gatherings. As of March 20, restaurants, bars, gyms and other places where people congregate were ordered closed at least until March 27, aiming to limit exposure and slow the spread of the novel virus.

Dusty Kisler, owner of The Perfect Shot Tavern in Polson, acknowledged the loss of income the closure will cause him, and that the closure will likely be extended. But he recognized it is not just him.

“This is difficult for anyone having to deal with this,” Kisler said. “We hope we can get it done now, and save the summer season. Regardless,” he said, “the whole thing is bad,” but he understands it needs to be done.

KwaTakNuq Resort and Casino is closed, using the time to give the entire venue a thorough cleaning and disinfecting.

Many restaurants, though closing their sit-down eating facilities, are offering take-out and delivery. And it’s not just about their bottom line.

Julie Burckhard at the Old Timer Café in St. Ignatius says customers can call in and pick food up at curbside.

“I understand why they government needs to do this,” she says, “but this really hurts the guys working on the [new St. Ignatius school] gym,” she says. “We have people who come here for breakfast every day. And truckers – with all the truck stops and rest stops shutting down, where are they going to eat and use the restroom?”

Though she has had to lay off her teenage helpers, her family will be there “scrub brush in hand,” she says. “This place will never be cleaner than after this.”

Stacy Roberts of Post Creek Steakhouse and 44 Bar feels the same way. They will do all they can to provide food for their customers, she said. As the closure took effect, employees were coming in as volunteers, bleaching and sanitizing everything for safe food preparation. They offer curbside pickup, delivery, and a new drive-through — “Anything we can do to help the community,” Stacy says.

Package liquor stores and drive-up coffee stands are still open regular hours.

Senior centers, always popular gathering places for meals, are also affected by the closure order. Dara Rodda, executive director of Lake County Council on Aging, said the centers are switching to take-out and home-delivery of meals for the time being. Seniors can call their center to order a meal. The schedules and phone numbers are on the LCCoA’s Facebook page, or call Dara at 676-2367.

To protect the elderly from public exposure to coronavirus, over 50 volunteers are available to purchase, sanitize and drop off groceries or other items seniors may need to be able to stay in their homes. Rodda said many of them have commented that isolating in their homes wasn’t anything new for them.

“We’ve always been stocked up anyway,” they tell her.

Lake Community Transit is closed for regular travel, but still available for transport to life-sustaining treatments.

Rodda encourages community members to “give seniors a call. Physically isolated is one thing, but it’s not good to be socially isolated.”

Banks have closed their lobbies but are carrying on with services at drive-through windows, by phone and online. Julie Thomas, branch operations manager at Valley Bank in Ronan, said they are fully operational with regular hours, and staff has geared up to handle increased phone traffic. Appointments can still be made for lending and new accounts.

Glacier Bank president Robert Nystuen said that customers can still visit safety deposit boxes one at a time by appointment, and loan applications can be done online. He encourages customers to call if they are incurring financial setbacks due to COVID-19 or related issues. Glacier Bank will help look for loan programs, small business programs, and others currently being developed to help during this time.

“We want to help our customers get through this, we want to provide solutions,” he said.

Grocery stores are busy as ever, and expect to stay open “no matter what,” said Mike, a manager at Harvest Foods in Ronan. Employees are continually sanitizing or washing their hands, but no other precautions have been mandated or found necessary to date.

“Crazy? Oh yeah,” Mike said, explaining that manufacturers and warehouses did not know customers would be purchasing so much of certain items, such as toilet paper and tissues. The warehouse in Spokane has “not a stitch of paper towels, toilet paper, Kleenex and cleaning supplies” he says.

Jay Maddern, retail operations manager for Moody’s Markets, including Super 1 and Ronan Harvest Foods, said that, “Like everyone else, we’re at the mercy of what comes in on the truck.” A run on certain items “caught everyone off guard.” Shortages are a nationwide issue and everyone in the supply chain is doing what they can to get back to normal stocking.

Maddern made it clear that all stores have “plenty of food.” People stocked up on dry foods such as flour, sugar, rice and beans, and canned foods in case they would need to stay in their homes for a long time, but there is still plenty of fresh produce and dairy, and the out-of-stock items will get refurbished soon.

The stores are following county, state, and CDC guidelines and taking a proactive approach, scheduling more frequent cleanings, said Maddern.

“People have been just fantastic,” he added. “Customers have been phenomenal. They understand, we’re all trying to get product. We all just have to be flexible; no one knows when everything will get back to normal.”