I feel like we've gone through about four distinctive stages with this pandemic we're continuing to face on the daily. There was the phase where businesses were shut down when the hardest restrictions were put in place months ago. That was followed by the phase where businesses were allowed to open but with reduced capacity. I feel like we then went through another phase where we saw a lot of places announcing temporary closures because of positive tests. And the latest phase seems to be businesses announcing lengthy closures - all due to the uncertainty of COVID-19.

Just over a month ago, Imagine Nation Brewing made the decision to close for the winter with the hope it would play a small part in helping COVID numbers in Missoula decrease. Last week, the same reasoning brought the story of Caffe Dolce closing with their sights set on reopening in the spring. And the latest addition to  this 4th phase of mine is the announcement that The Staggering Ox on Southwest Higgins is following suit and closing their doors for an unknown amount of time. They shared the news in a social media post today.

 

It's always a bummer to hear news about a business in the community having to close - even if it isn't planned to be a permanent thing. It's especially unfortunate for the owners and employees that it will affect as we're heading into the holidays. Two vaccines possibly being available as early as next month seems to be the most promising bit of news we've had in a while as we look to get on the other side of this pandemic. Let's hope we can get things turned around............so I don't have to add a 5th phase to my scale.

See Striking Photos of the Tourism Industry During COVID-19

 

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