By Carol Vaughn —
Among the more puzzling questions that have arisen during the COVID-19 pandemic is why certain businesses were ordered closed, while other closely related businesses could stay open.
In Chincoteague and other tourist destinations in Virginia, the closing of private campgrounds to campers staying 14 or fewer days has been an economic burden for owners and a disappointment for would-be campers.
“It has been devastating,” said David Cole, manager at Tom’s Cove Campground on Chincoteague.
The 80-plus acre campground typically would have had some 400 campsites occupied Memorial Day weekend.
“We lost Memorial Day, which is one of our biggest holidays,” Cole said.
The cancellation of Pony Penning activities this summer is another blow for area campgrounds as well as other businesses, he said.
Tom’s Cove Campground is making plans to open to transient campers Friday, after Gov. Ralph Northam cleared the way for Accomack and two other Virginia localities to enter Phase 1 of reopening.
The private campground closings went into effect April 1, after Gov. Ralph Northam issued executive order 55, also called the temporary stay-at-home order.
Still, other types of lodgings, including motels and hotels, were not mentioned in the order and could remain open.
On Chincoteague, Mayor J. Arthur Leonard issued an executive order March 27 that went beyond than the governor’s order, ordering all “hotels, motels, cottages, bed and breakfasts, rental homes, Airbnb’s, and campgrounds” to remain closed until April 27. The order later was extended through May 15.
Starting mid-month, the mayor was set to lift those restrictions gradually, which he did for other lodgings — but the campground restrictions fell under the governor’s order and could not be changed.
“Nobody can give me an explanation why the hotel is a safer place than a campground,” Cole said.
Other lodgings on the island were allowed to reopen, reaching 50% capacity permitted on May 22, with the plan being to bring them to full capacity this weekend.
“When the governor granted Accomack County’s request for exemption from the phase 1 reopening, the restrictions on campgrounds remained in place even as the mayor had begun lifting his own order on other accommodations. The campground restrictions will not be lifted until the governor allows Accomack County to progress to phase 1,” Chincoteague Town Manager Mike Tolbert said Tuesday.
Leonard said the town tried to get an answer to the question of why campgrounds had to close and other lodgings did not.
“We have sent a letter, we have made contact with our representatives, (Del.) Rob Bloxom and (Sen.) Lynwood Lewis,” he said, adding Lewis facilitated a telephone converstion with a Department of Labor deputy.
“But honestly, she didn’t have good answers for us,” Leonard said, adding, “Another one of our points was…you’ve closed Accomack County, but you’ve let Northampton County open up, so 90% of the people going to Northampton County have to travel through Accomack, so they are going right past us…Who made that call? What sense does that make?”
Town officials in late March decided to close all accomodations by executive order because “we wanted to be equitable,” closing “everywhere where a person who does not live on the island would come to stay,” Leonard said.
When Accomack County earlier this month asked the governor to keep the county in Phase 0 of restrictions, while most of the state was entering the less-restrictive Phase 1, Chincoteague and other towns in the county were included — although Leonard said that was not county officials’ intention.
“It threw us into a tailspin, because we had done everything in advance” to try to keep COVID-19 case numbers low in town, he said.
Until the governor’s announcement came late Thursday afternoon that week, Chincoteague had been preparing to reopen under Phase 1 that weekend, including campgrounds.
“We thought we were ahead of the game by doing what we did at that time, and then when the governor decided to close us up for another three weeks, we were like, wait a minute — we are being punished for being good,” Leonard said, noting Chincoteague has a very low number of cases, just nine to date.
“I feel for the proprietors of the campgrounds. When you look at it, a camper is probably more safe than a hotel room.”
With Northam’s announcement Wednesday that Accomack County can enter Phase 1 of reopening Friday, campgrounds will be allowed to reopen with certain restrictions.
“All of Virginia will operate under Phase One starting Friday, including Northern Virginia, the City of Richmond, and Accomack County,” Northam said in a Facebook post.
Executive Order 61 allows private campgrounds located in areas entering Phase One to accept guests for overnight stays of less than 14 nights provided physical distancing, enhanced cleaning and disinfection, and enhanced workplace safety practices established for all businesses under the order are followed; at least 20 feet is maintained between units for all lots rented for short-term stays of less than 14 nights; and employees interacting with the public wear face coverings over their nose and mouth at all times, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
Additionally, campgrounds should strongly encourage customers to wear face coverings over their nose and mouth, and must provide handwashing in bath houses and sanitizing stations for guests and employees.
Cole said the campground won’t readily recover from being closed to short-term stays since March 1, when it typically opens.
“What we’ve lost between the time we opened and now, we will not make up this year,” he said, adding, “We just want a fair shake…We feel like we weren’t treated fairly.”
