Lawmakers and pilots: Cutting red tape and moving ships

Coy Johnson called Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf this week. Coy owns and operates the Anchorage Motel on Route 1 near the Route 24 intersection.

“He had seen the governor’s order about closing down temporary rentals like hotels and motels,” said Schwartzkopf. “What he wanted to know was whether he had to kick out the construction workers who have been renting rooms for several weeks. I think they’re working on the Route 1 bridge project along the Forgotten Mile. I explained that those kinds of rentals are exempt from this most recent order. Section nine. People working in essential businesses can still take temporary rentals from people working in Delaware. Construction workers are considered part of essential business.”

Schwartzkopf said he has been receiving hundreds of emails a day. “They want explanations, just like Coy. They’re calling us about Small Business Administration loans and unemployment benefits. We – all of the legislators – are doing what we do: cutting through red tape for them.”

Schwartzkopf said the most heartening thing he has witnessed through this coronavirus mess is lots and lots of people following directions and doing the right thing to help keep the virus from spreading.

The most discouraging thing? “It’s frustrating for me and many others to see all of these people coming down on weekends – out-of-state tags – from places where the epidemic is worst. They go into the grocery stores and start loading up like nothing’s wrong – like they’re here for the summer. Local people see them bringing it down here and it really upsets them.” Schwartzkopf said someone sent him a photograph recently with the comment: “These people know they’re wrong being here.” He said the picture showed two cars backed into a driveway so the tags couldn’t be seen. “And they still took the tags off anyway.” 

As Speaker of Delaware’s House of Representatives, Schwartzkopf has been working closely with Gov. John Carney to deal with coronavirus issues. “We talk a lot, and he listens to me. When we saw how many people came to town on St. Patrick’s Day – even though a lot of businesses like The Starboard in Dewey had closed down – I knew we were going to have to close them all. He listened. Then when we had that really nice weekend and people jammed the beaches, I told him we were going to have to close the beaches. He listened then, too. Then last week we started talking about closing the temporary rentals. These are all things we have to do if we’re going to stay safe and stop this virus from spreading.”

Schwartzkopf spent a long career with Delaware State Police. He knows about public safety and acting to protect the public. None of it is easy. Though all of these actions have thrown thousands in Sussex County onto the unemployment rolls, tough times require tough measures.

In addition to the many closures encouraging people to stay home, Delaware State Police went into high-visibility mode last weekend to show that Delaware is serious. Roadblocks set up to stop cars with out-of-state tags gave police an opportunity to explain to those visitors that they were required by law to go into an immediate 14-day quarantine, and if they weren’t prepared to do that they should turn around and go home.

The message rippled quickly to surrounding states.

Schwartzkopf said his wife, Carol, came up with a novel way to keep him home. “She fell down, broke one leg and messed up the other one so she can’t walk at all. That might have saved my life. If I weren’t taking care of her all the time – only going out for groceries and getting takeout food – I would probably be traveling all over the place to keep tabs on things. But this has really clipped my wings, and that’s a good thing.

“Like most everyone else, I’ve figured out I can do most of what I need to do right from home. What’s been confirmed for me is that everyone needs to stay in their own lane. Let the pros do their jobs and listen to their guidance. I hear from lots of people and pass their ideas on to the governor so he can do his job. That’s what it’s going to take to get through this.”

So why has Gov. Carney pegged the length of his many executive orders to May 15?

“The federal Centers for Disease Control is expecting our peak of the virus to come about the third week of April. By May 15 we should know whether we’re on the downside of all this.”

Local and global business

On the takeout side of things, Schwartzkopf, like many, is trying to help local restaurants by ordering takeout frequently. “Those places – like Woody’s in Dewey – who already have a strong takeout business are doing OK. I went in there the other night to pick up an order and there were bags lined up all the way down the counter.”

In Lewes, Peter at Touch of Italy on Second Street said business is only off 6 percent from last year. “We can barely keep up with the takeout business in the evening. This is how we started. We didn’t have chairs and tables in here at first.”

At Half Full, down the street, Paula said they’ve never made so many pizzas. “What’s hurting us is the lack of liquor sales.”

Out at Nassau, Keith at Old World Breads had people lined up outside the front door last weekend picking up baked goods. “Fourteen out of fifteen are out-of-staters. We’re selling out of everything.”

And next door to him at Beach Time Distilling, Greg and Mary Ann Christmas are doing a brisk business in the hand sanitizer Greg is preparing in his stills. They’re selling bulk, 2-gallon metal cans filled with sanitizer to places like Sussex County Emergency Medical Services and Bayhealth where they’re using the product constantly, and also quart spray bottles and small personal-sized containers for over-the-counter retail sales.

“The other parts of our business? Rums and canned cocktails and craft beers – not so much,” said Greg.

Out in the ocean and in the mouth of Delaware Bay, members of the Pilots Association for the Bay and River Delaware – and their crews and drivers – are doing their part to help keep international shipping and trade moving. Dan MacElrevey, who lives in Lewes, is an association member and a director. The pilots guide thousands of ships from all over the world up and down Delaware Bay and River each year.

“Traffic on the river is fairly normal. We’ve instituted lots of safety procedures to keep everyone safe – the ship’s crews and our crews – and we’re still moving ships. Any infected or sick crew members aboard ships have to be reported to the Coast Guard, and we also ask before we board any vessels. Regardless, we take precautions, assuming that there may be infected people around us. We’re all wearing masks in our launches and on the ships, wiping down everything with disinfectant everywhere. I actually feel safer on the ships than I do going out to the grocery stores.

“On the bridge, we stand on one side and the ship’s crew stands on the other. We all know it’s a two-way street. I could catch something from them or they could catch something I’ve brought aboard. I could be asymptomatic, still have it and don’t know it. That’s why we have to be so careful.”

MacElrevey said he has classmates from maritime school that are really feeling the effects of coronavirus in other parts of the country. “In Miami, their volume has been cut in half primarily due to the cruise ships. And in Norfolk, another classmate told me the container ship volume is down considerably.” 

MacElrevey said he hasn’t seen any large drop-off in goods coming in from different countries affected by the virus. “By and large, goods are still moving. Philly is a diverse port as far as cargo goes, and that’s probably the reason why. The gas export business – liquid petroleum gas out of Marcus Hook – is solid. Most of it is going to Europe. But we’re doing it all as safely as possible – cleaning almost constantly – and we’re finding that to be universal. Everyone is being respectful of others. Here, we have many members and crew with family working at the hospital. Everyone’s doing their jobs, showing up.”

Like Schwartzkopf said, staying in their lanes.

For the pilots particularly, as for everyone else in general, coronavirus has put us all in the same boat.