Diamond Lake Resort is one of several facilities working to get back to normal, but owner Brian Smith expressed some concerns and frustrations he’d encountered along the way. Most of his frustrations, he said, were due to a lack of guidance from the state.
During a Zoom call last week, Smith asked Hank Phillips, President and CEO of the Kentucky Travel Industry Association, how he should handle spontaneous crowds that “just show up” at his resort. Smith, who has reached out to the Green River Area District Health Department and Gov. Andy Beshear’s office multiple times for advice, said he hadn’t received a clear-cut answer on how to enforce social distancing between patrons who visit Diamond Lake.
Smith said a rumor regarding the Resort’s lack of social distancing prompted him to dig deeper into the rules and regulations regarding campsites and the like. It was discovered that Smith and his staff were handling everything correctly and that rumor dissipated, but the potential liability — if a patron were to become infected with COVID-19 while at his facility — continues to weigh heavily on him, he said.
In knowing not everything can be easily monitored, Phillips recommended Smith put his best effort toward informing his customers of the protocols and regulations and to include signage around the resort with the rules listed.
“The whole area of liability is murky at best,” Phillips said. “A lot of the questions lie with the health department because they have the actual authority for these kinds of requests. But I’ve been told they’re operating on an information deficit as well.”
So far, Smith hasn’t cancelled any events at Diamond Lake Resort. He got confirmation from the health department on Wednesday that he’d be able to reopen go-carts at his facility, though they might be available during limited hours at first.
“I’m working diligently to get back to normal. We’ll have to learn how to sanitize the carts between rides and maintain social distancing in lines,” he said. “For our boat race — everything is handled aside from crowd control, how to get them to social distance.”
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