We are actively planning for a business Armageddon in Montana. There is a serious potential that Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks will not open this year. If Covid19 continues to be an issue it will be completely irresponsible for those parks to open. Montana and Wyoming combined have around 1.6 million residents. Last year there were over 10 million visitations to those national parks. There is no possible way the medical facilities in the communities bordering those parks can handle an outbreak during peak visitation. Should an outbreak occur, the standard practice of 7 to 14 days of self isolation would be nearly impossible since the vast majority of those visitors stay in hotels. The logistics of accommodating people needing to stay well beyond their reservation period would virtually be undoable. We currently have a couple of weeks before we need to make season ending decisions. We are covering payroll for now, but in all honesty our employees will come out ahead if we just lay all of them off and allow them to draw unemployment, especially since we will have no need to rehire until next year should the parks be closed into July and August. Running many scenarios, we have concluded that if it appears the parks will be closed for a substantial portion of the high season (Mid June thru mid September) it will be better for us to completely close and not incur the costs of advertising, maintenance, repairs, labor, utilities and like. Plus, should the uncertainty linger much longer we expect to see visitation down a huge percentage. Visits to those parks are not spur of the moment trips. Thankfully, we have the financial ability to ride out a year. It will hurt, but we will make it. For many others, losing a full season, and thus a full year of income, will put them out of business permanently.

Who knows? Your guess is as good as the experts. We are in uncharted territory.

My take they should stay closed for several additional months. Here in western Montana we are not even close to hittting the peak of the infestation. Last estimate I have seen was for the peak to happen in late May, with the most hospitalizations June, July and August. No need to bring outsiders in while we hold up in place for several months. I do feel sorry for the small business folks. However lets keep us locals safe as well. Our small population and limited resources could easy be over run.

Agreed, there's no telling. All we can do is set ourselves up for any scenario.

It's going to be a very boring summer if this stay home stuff goes on. Nothing to do in town, and if Mesa Verde etal remain closed, can't even go camping.I just don't see how the economy can stay shut down like this. Business will have to implement plans to require gloves, masks and limit the number of customers. Otherwise, it's going to be all over for many many businesses.

My opinion (and we all know what that's worth) is based on the popularity of those parks and the severity of the outbreak.I do not expect them to be open during the summer and possibly not for the rest of the year.The 'experts' are not sure if the virus will return in the fall or if it will even die out during warmer weather like most strains of the flu.

Should/will Glacier, Teton and Yellowstone open?

Tyler0215
Explorer
Apr 03, 2020
Who knows? Your guess is as good as the experts. We are in uncharted territory.
KJINTF
Explorer
Apr 03, 2020
My take they should stay closed for several additional months.
Here in western Montana we are not even close to hittting the peak of the infestation. Last estimate I have seen was for the peak to happen in late May, with the most hospitalizations June, July and August. No need to bring outsiders in while we hold up in place for several months.

I do feel sorry for the small business folks. However lets keep us locals safe as well. Our small population and limited resources could easy be over run.
ScottG
Nomad
Apr 03, 2020
Agreed, there's no telling.
All we can do is set ourselves up for any scenario.
2oldman
Explorer II
Apr 03, 2020
It's going to be a very boring summer if this stay home stuff goes on. Nothing to do in town, and if Mesa Verde etal remain closed, can't even go camping.

I just don't see how the economy can stay shut down like this. Business will have to implement plans to require gloves, masks and limit the number of customers. Otherwise, it's going to be all over for many many businesses.
gbopp
Explorer
Apr 03, 2020
My opinion (and we all know what that's worth) is based on the popularity of those parks and the severity of the outbreak.
I do not expect them to be open during the summer and possibly not for the rest of the year.
The 'experts' are not sure if the virus will return in the fall or if it will even die out during warmer weather like most strains of the flu.
Lwiddis
Explorer II
Apr 03, 2020
I advocate for a month by month review but I have no illusions of this being over until the end of August at the earliest. And I don’t see the moderators cutting off Corona virus discussions/removing posts (don’t travel, stay put, “that isn’t an emergency”) like they were even a week ago.
Ductape
Explorer
Apr 03, 2020
Everything should open. We’re trading a few weeks of intense pain for years of economic depression worse than anything in our nation’s history.
Lwiddis
Explorer II
Apr 03, 2020
More than a few weeks IMO, ductape. This virus will bounce back up like the 1918-20 flu did.
Crowe
Explorer
Apr 03, 2020
Everything should open. We’re trading a few weeks of intense pain for years of economic depression worse than anything in our nation’s history.

I lean towards this line of thinking. There's already been reports of suicides because people have lost their jobs. Poverty will worsen and with that domestic violence and person-on-person crimes increase. The longer the shutdown goes on the worse this will be.

We have no way to know what is going to happen so no one can concretely say yes or no. Once we have flattened the curve we will still have to continue these practices for some time so we don't go back to ground zero. If we can attain "herd immunity" either by I think 60% of the population having had the virus or by vaccination then it will be safe to move forward. Otherwise we may have to pull up the bootstraps and hunker down a little longer. I am extremely concerned, however, about the long-term effects of this type of environment.

The 'experts' are not sure if the virus will return in the fall or if it will even die out during warmer weather like most strains of the flu.

The flu doesn't die out due to the weather itself but more because people are outside and away from each other. This is why some governors such as Gov. Sununu of NH are recommending people still go outside and hike, walk, bike, etc., as long as they practice social distancing.
Boon_Docker
Explorer III
Apr 03, 2020
Ductape wrote:
Everything should open. We’re trading a few weeks of intense pain for years of economic depression worse than anything in our nation’s history.

Not sure about that logic.
I think saving millions of peoples lives (by keeping things shut down for now) is more important than the economy at the moment.