Sidewalks have been crowded with visitors to Nashville this fall, the changing colors and crisp autumn air drawing in people from across state lines.
Amid the pandemic, businesses find themselves navigating the traffic a bit differently than in years past.
Social distancing and mask mandates are still in place, three months after Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office issued them.
But when the Harvest Preserve and Candy Dish couldn’t allow customers and employees the space to be comfortable and safe, owner Allen Miller made the decision to close for the weekend of Oct. 17.
This was one of the weekends when traffic in town was backed up to the state park gates and beyond.
“The owner felt they had no viable way of controlling the crowd,” employee Julie Gunther said. “It was basically impossible to social distance.”
Signs are posted on the outside and inside doors asking that customers correctly wear a mask and space themselves out, but Gunther said that there comes a point where it’s “just too much.”
“We’re trying to do the right thing,” Gunther said.
A post was made on the “Self Isolate Our Brown County” Facebook group commending the stores for closing for safety precautions on a busy weekend.
Other downtown attractions have dealt with hostile patrons.
The previous weekend, two people entered the Brown County Art Gallery without masks on, and the attendant asked them to wear them. President Lyn Letsinger-Miller said that the visitors refused and began yelling at the attendant.
The gallery attendant asked them to leave. They refused.
“They said, ‘It’s our right to be here,’” Letsinger-Miller said. The attendant again told them it’s the rule for their gallery.
After they told him to “just go ahead and call the police,” Letsinger-Miller said that the gallery attendant — who is currently in remission from cancer — went into the office, not wanting to confront them any further. The visitors walked through the entire gallery, then left.
“What’s important to know is that most of our visitors are older,” Letsinger-Miller said. “We want to protect them and the people that work there as well.”
“We’re not a shop, but shopkeepers as a group need to take a stand against this. It’s not worth the money.”
Letsinger-Miller said this incident has been the only one at the gallery so far. The police were not called since the attendant didn’t know that was an option, she said.
People cannot be arrested for refusing to wear masks, but they can be trespassed from a property if they refuse to leave, according to Nashville Police Chief Ben Seastrom.
Seastrom said the number of complaints they’ve received has been low and that they have not had to escort anyone off a property.
“Most everyone complies,” he said. “The hardest part is that the governor made a mandate, but no law was attached to it.”
John Kennard, environmental health specialist supervisor at the Brown County Health Department, said complaint calls are ongoing.
“What happens is we get a complaint, we leave here and confirm the validity,” he said. “The first time we tell them to wear masks, the second time we write a letter, third time we close (the business).”
Kennard said that they receive three to five calls a day, from locals and tourists, about businesses, restaurants and more.
One of the more difficult parts of following up with complaints is the timing of them, Kennard said. The health department’s office hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and it’s difficult to follow up on social events that happen in the evenings or on weekends, he said.
The health department has also been asking for a group’s plans when a larger event is to happen to make sure they include COVID-19 protocols. When groups don’t reach out to the health department, health department staff members have been reaching out to the groups via Facebook event pages or other means.
“I can’t do anything after the fact,” Kennard said. “There’s a lot of excuses not to wear masks and each one is personally valid.
“I can tell you, nobody wants to get coronavirus. Masks are about 60 percent effective, but 60 is better than zero. Is it worth taking a chance? There’s no perfect answer, unless the governor backs us up,” Kennard said.
“We try to do the best we can in the most politically tactful way we can do it.”
On Oct. 22, the state as a whole saw its largest single-day report of new COVID-19 cases so far, at 2,880, with 48 new deaths.
