Sally Strasser stands in front of the State Theater, which she owns, on Park Street in Tupper Lake in November 2017. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

Gatherings with 500 or more participants are being canceled or postponed by state order, and many establishments are being told to limit people to 50% of their maximum occupancy.

While local churches rework communion and movie theaters work to find new film releases, this state rule is not predicted to have much impact on local businesses operations in the slow shoulder season for tourism, according to business owners.

The state’s new directive attempts to slow the spread of coronavirus and restrict how many people can congregate at restaurants, bars, theaters, auditoriums, concerts, conferences, worship services, sporting events, gaming establishments and physical fitness centers.

Both of these directions started at 5 p.m. Friday.

Exceptions are being made for spaces deemed necessary or where individuals do not make sustained close contact, such as schools, libraries, hospitals, government buildings, residential health care facilities, mass transit, grocery stores, pharmacies and retail stores.

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Churches

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Churches in the Tri-Lakes area are still holding services, but are changing communion some practices and planning to restrict the occupancy of services, following the state guidelines.

Darcy Fargo, a spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg, which is responsible for the Catholic churches in the North Country, said it is asking churches to restrict Mass to under 500 people and for buildings with a capacity less than 500, seating is being limited to 50% of the stated occupancy capacity.

Bishop Terry LaValley issued a dispensation letting Catholics out of their Sunday Mass obligation due to illness or fear of contracting the illness. People not attending Mass are encouraged to follow on radio, television or online where possible.

“We are asking pastors to continue not offering the Precious Blood (the chalice) at Communion time, not offering a physical sign of peace (or omitting the sign of peace completely), and no handshakes before, during and after the Eucharist (including holding hands at the Our Father),” Fargo wrote in an email.

At St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Saranac Lake, Senior Warden Linda Jackson sent a letter to parishioners, suggesting emailing or calling for community interaction, altering the rules for taking communion, and announcing Sunday coffee hour was canceled.

“I know they are an important part of being with your church family, but following the suggestions to avoid close contact with others, I think this is best,” Jackson wrote. “I suggest you find seats as spread out as possible and to smile and wave during the peace rather than hug and shake hands.”

Hand sanitizer will be available in each pew, the most efficient technique for taking the bread and wine will be up to the presiding priest and not taking the wine at all is acceptable.

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Businesses

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Owners of local restaurants, bars and entertainment venues said being in a shoulder season means they likely will not have to make any changes to meet the state’s 50% occupancy standard.

However, some are canceling events. Mark Jessie, co-owner of Raquette River Brewing in Tupper Lake, said the brewery canceled a comedy show, even though it planned to still be under the 50% occupancy limit. He said the show usually sells 150 tickets and that the beer hall occupancy is 300, but the comedians and brewery owners decided to cancel the event as a precaution.

“I would say that it’s not going to have an effect on our day-to-day business this time of year,” Jessie said. “Had it been in July, then it might have.”

Sally Strasser, who owns the State Theater in Tupper Lake, said her biggest screening room has 135 seats, but because this time is not a big season for movies, she’s not expecting to need to limit seating. She also said renovations a few years ago gave the seats more space apart from each other.

“We have plenty of room for people to practice socially distancing,” she said.

Strasser said movie-goers naturally distance themselves from each other, a rarity in entertainment venues.

“People are going to think you’re really weird if you go sitting right next to them,” Strasser said.

She said she spent the past two days cleaning and closed Thursday night to decontaminate the theater.

“I think that I can keep people safe there,” Strasser said. “My biggest problem is that they’re pulling movies out of release.”

Strasser said big-budget movies are being held back nationally by the major film companies, because they don’t want to release a movie that can’t make its money back when crowds are being discouraged. She said both “Mulan” and “A Quiet Place Part II” — which were both in her lineup — have both had their releases postponed. Now she has to use her imagination to fill the screens.

She said she may try to order more smaller, independent films and movies that have already been released. These are both gambles, though, as audiences may or may not want to see the ones she ends up with.

She said if there is a movie people missed when it was in theaters, they can request she bring it back.

Garrick Smith, who owns the Hotel North Woods and its Delta Blue pub in Lake Placid, said he sees a long road ahead for the event-driven village. His hotel lost rooms this week as two huge hockey tournaments were canceled: the Eastern College Athletic Conference’s final four and CAN/AM Challenge Cup.

“We’re seeing significant occupancy changes due to the cancellation of all the upcoming events,” Smith said. “Our primary focus right now is in cost containment.”

Smith said hotel owners will offer discounted “specials” for people who still book rooms and said they had a discussion of whether to cut rates in half or keep their rates the same and offer an 50% discount. He said they agreed they want to maintain a rate integrity and not lower their actual costs, devaluing their service. He said he will likely offer a “buy one night, get one free” special.

In Delta Blue, he said he will not remove seating to ensure the 50% occupancy is met but will have staff monitor traffic to make sure it does not get too high. He said he is ready to change his plans as new information comes in.

“All we can anticipate is change at this point,” Smith said.

Eric Wilson, who owns Good Guy Productions in Bloomingdale, has made gathering large groups of people his career. He said he has college events all over the eastern U.S. that are canceling or are in limbo. Some of these may reschedule, he said, but as long as people are encouraged to avoid large groups, it poses a problem for him. He’s hopeful, though.

“I reached out to one of my lighting manufacturers in China last night and they are fully functioning and back to work,” Wilson wrote in an email. “It tells me that this (thing) does indeed have a cycle and after five weeks or so of being cautious, the virus dies down.”

The Lake Placid Center for the Arts has canceled several events. Director of Marketing Alison Simcox said the state’s half-capacity crowd size restrictions were a “major influence in our decision making as far as whether to cancel, especially next Friday’s show ‘Blizzard.'”

Simcox said that event was expected to draw more than the theater’s half-capacity of 175 people.

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State advice

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For all other gatherings or public spaces, private and public organizers are supposed to promote messages that discourage people who are sick from attending or visiting. Plus, they need to review existing plans and procedures; consult with state and local officials about local preparedness and response capacities; use alternative ways of delivering their event; use procedures for community containment strategies; train all staff on proper hand and respiratory hygiene; plan for staff absences; make reasonable accommodations for workers; provide prevention supplies at events; and identify a space that can be used to isolate staff or participants who become ill at the event.

The state Department of Health says members of the public who are sick with COVID-19 symptoms such as fever, cough, trouble breathing, or who are susceptible to infectious illnesses — older adults and people with serious chronic medical conditions such as lung disease, heart disease and diabetes — should not attend large gatherings.

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Lake Placid News Editor Andy Flynn contributed to this report.