NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WBEN) - Businesses in Niagara County are benefiting from the micro-cluster zone initiatives that have impacted Erie County.
Because high-risk businesses like barber shops are closed throughout most of Erie County, people are instead taking their business to places like Slawich Cut N Shave, located on Niagara Falls Boulevard in North Tonawanda.
"We probably get 15 to 20 new people a day who call to get in," Michael Slawich, owner of the barber shop, said. "We're taking as many as we can. We're already booked up as it is. Whoever we can fit in, we fit in. A lot of people are coming from Buffalo and the southtowns. You name it, they're coming here."
Slawich Cut N Shave is located on the northern end of Niagara Falls Boulevard. Coincidentally, the opposite side of the street is in the state's yellow zone and a couple miles south down is in the orange zone.
The proximity to the cluster zones and continued rise in cases in Niagara County has Slawich, and other business owners, worried about their future.
"Every day, we're pretty much working like it's our last day," Slawich said. "We don't know what tomorrow brings. The only thing we have been doing is being as sanitary as possible and following all the rules. We're praying we don't shut down."
It's a similar story for restaurants. Under the state's orange zone, restaurants are limited to outdoor dining, takeout, or delivery, but because of the weather, few outdoor dining options are available.
"We do have more people from Erie County coming in while this all is going on," Ann Murphy, owner and manager at Shamus Restaurant on West Avenue in Lockport, said. "There's obviously a large amount of people that don't want to go out to eat and then there's people that do want to go out to eat. It does entice a wider range of audience, although the audience is limited either way."
While some restaurants are seeing lengthier waits for a table, Murphy said that's not so much the case at her restaurant because they encourage patrons to make a reservation.
"We're very concerned," Murphy said when asked about the possibility of ending indoor dining under the micro cluster zone. "It's concerning to everyone. We're very sympathetic to those restaurants already in that position and small businesses in Western New York. It's going to hurt us. It's already hurting all of us because the occupancy is lower in what we can seat. We're following all the regulations. This is usually the month that we profit from or hope to profit from, the Christmas and holiday season."
Niagara County is considered a "Tier 2" county according to the state's micro cluster initiative. To reach orange zone status, a geographic area in the county must have a 4% positive test rate in the 7-day rolling average for ten days. Niagara County has had a rolling average of greater than 4% every day since November 11. Its current 7-day average is 7.7% after a 10.8% positive test rate on Monday.
Governor Cuomo previously said he will wait until after the Thanksgiving holiday to make adjustments to the zones. Thursday marks one week since Thanksgiving.
