McMenamins Old St. Francis Hotel prepares for Friday reopening

County commissioner says message for tourists: 'Stand by'

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Many businesses here in Bend are gearing up for a reopening, and that includes McMenamins Old St. Francis School in downtown Bend. But like many of these businesses, they will also be implementing new social distancing and sanitation efforts.

McMenamins plans to open eight of its hotel locations around the region on Friday, including Bend's. Due to COVID 19, rooms will remain vacant for 24 hours between guests. Rooms and surfaces will be sanitized using a COVID- 19 lab tested cleaner and sanitizer.

Employees will be required to wear masks, and guests are encouraged to do the same. Employees will also be required to maintain the six feet distance between coworkers, vendors and guests.

Deschutes County Commissioner Tony DeBone says the message to tourists who are considering coming into the area is simple: Please wait.

"The message is 'stand by,' right now, for tourism," DeBone said Tuesday. "It isn't really prudent to promote it, but all the tourism agencies and operators, everyone understands that. Let's just kind of take it easy for right now. It's not a hard closure, but it's not a promotion time either."

DeBone said once we get past phases 1 and 2 of reopening without an uptick in COVID cases, we can consider welcoming others back into our community.

Deschutes County commissioners are still awaiting the decision of Gov. Kate Brown on when to reopen the county. Just about every county in the state has applied to be part of the reopening, and initial decisions are expected on Wednesday.