Hopkinsville’s YMCA, the WK Cinemas and local hair and nail salons will be required to close by 5 p.m. Wednesday under an executive order from Gov. Andy Beshear.
He announced the statewide order in his daily press briefing of coronavirus developments.
It follows another order on Monday that required bars and restaurant dining rooms to close. Restaurants may still do business through carry-out, drive-thru and delivery orders.
The Hopkinsville YMCA has 60 part-time and five full-time employees. All of the part-timers will be temporarily laid off, and a meeting is set for Wednesday to explain the process to them, said Sheryl Ellis, president of CEO of the local YMCA.
Employees losing their jobs because of restrictions resulting from the coronavirus are eligible for unemployment benefits. The state has waived normal waiting periods for those benefits, and that is one consolation in the closure, said Ellis.
“I think most of them will need the check as soon as they can get it,” she said.
Within several weeks, the YMCA’s part-time staff would be slated to increase to approximately 100 workers. Most of the staffing increase is needed for lifeguards and others who work around the pool when it opens.
The closure also affects 6,669 YMCA members who use the facility for a range of exercise, health and social activities.
Ellis said she’s working to see if the state will allow the YMCA to continue its feeding program. It provides weekday meals to hundreds of children at several sites, including the YMCA, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School and the inner-city Challenge Houses. In the last quarter of 2019, the program provided 6,000 meals in Hopkinsville.
“We are trying to find a balance to still serve the community,” she said.
Ellis said the YMCA could reopen at 4:30 a.m. March 30 — if it is safe to do so and the state allows.
Members can stay connected on the Y’s Facebook page and get tips to maintain an exercise regimen during the closure.
The local movie theater, behind Bradford Square shopping center, and the YMCA, on Eagle Way, were among a small number of Hopkinsville’s larger, public establishments that had remained open.
By Monday, the Hopkinsville Municipal Center and the Christian County Courthouse had closed to the general public — along with the Alhambra Theater, the Hopkinsville- Christian County Public Library, the Pennyroyal Area Museum, the Woody Winfree Transportation Museum, the Planters Bank-Jennie Stuart Health Sportsplex and the James E. Bruce Convention Center.
All local public and private schools are closed. Child care centers must close by Friday.
Most businesses remain open, although some have reduced their hours.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 26 people had tested positive in Kentucky for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. The first case has emerged in Western Kentucky, where one person in Lyon County tested positive, state officials said.
(This story has been updated to include comments from Hopkinsville YMCA President and CEO Sheryl Ellis.)
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
