Colorado Springs small businesses weigh in on handling Omicron variant

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The first Omicron variant COVID-19 case was confirmed in El Paso County Tuesday. Health officials describe it as the most transmissible variant yet. Now, businesses are left wondering what this means for them and if they could face another round of closures.

Local business owner Kristyn Cline just opened her second shop location, a floral boutique called Sweetwater on the northside of Colorado Springs last weekend.

Cline is no stranger to running a shop amid the pandemic, she opened her other location last March at the peak of the pandemic when the first stay-at-home order for Colorado was issued.

“As we did before and as we will do we will follow the rules and hopefully we won’t have to be in that situation again,” Cline said.

Now that Omicron is in El Paso County, Cline says she is already brainstorming ideas to keep her business up and running. After learning from last year, Cline hopes employees won't have to adjust to closing again.

“Touchless deliveries and being able to not have too many people in one place there is different ways to look at it but we are not there yet,” she said.

She's not the only small business planning ahead.

Leif Anderson is a former school teacher who made his dream of opening a brewery happen less than a year ago. Being a brewery, Mash Mechanix is a place where large crowds gather. If another shutdown happens, Anderson says he'll have to transition to to-go orders just to make ends meet.

“We’re a hands-on kinda place, it’s a social environment so without having that ability for social gatherings it would be detrimental,” Anderson said.

Anderson says they're not there yet, but like Cline’s business, he too will have to adapt.

The Pikes Peak Small Business Development Center told KRDO they are advising establishments to follow the state and federal mandates for employers.

If Omicron continues to flare up, PPSBDC believes that businesses will be more prepared for this time.

“It is less about pulling back the reigns completely and it’s more about reevaluating the protocols already in place,” Mackenzie Tamayo said.