By Alex Baumhardt

In some Oregon school districts, turf fields and lawn mowers were necessities to overcome the pandemic and get schools reopened.

Others used emergency relief money to retrofit buildings with ventilation systems, add laptop computers for students and pay for online teaching.

But the state still holds more than $1 billion meant to help school districts address pandemic-related issues. 

Since March 2020, Oregon has been allocated $1.7 billion in emergency relief funding from the federal government to get students back in classrooms, and to get them caught up on their education after school closures. 

Now, more than a year later, most of that money remains unspent.

School districts so far have been reimbursed for about $222 million in emergency relief projects, according to the Oregon Education Department. That means just under 8 percent of all dollars have made it back to districts.

The bulk of that money has gone to staff, technology and capital projects – getting kids laptops and wifi, upgrading ventilation systems and adding more classrooms to encourage social distancing. 

But emergency purchases also included weight room equipment, bleachers and playgrounds. 

Districts must spend at least $201 million of Oregon’s latest relief money to combat learning loss over the next three years, but data from the Education Department show that less than 1 percent has been distributed so far for that purpose.

The reasons behind what districts are buying, and when, are complex, but they have broad latitude in using the extra money.

The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund

The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund was signed into federal law in ​​March 2020 as school buildings in many states were closing and classes shifted online. 

The first round of money was ready to go out to states immediately for buying personal protective equipment for staff and students who had to remain in school buildings, and to help schools pay for the transition to online learning. That included laptops for students, new online teaching software, network security upgrades and internet hotspots for families that otherwise had no internet access.

It also paid for more teachers, substitute teachers, counselors and support staff. 

The money was awarded from the federal government to the state Education Department, which reimburses districts for their purchases. Purchases over $5,000 must have prior approval from the department.

Oregon’s share of funds in that first round was $121 million. 

Most of the state’s 216 school and education service districts have claimed some portion of the funds and to date, more than $100 million of that first round funding has been spent. 

The second and third rounds of funding came in December 2020 and March 2021. Oregon was allocated $499 million in the second round to spend on getting schools ready to reopen. 

In the third round, the state was allocated $1.1 billion. 

It was additional money for school reopening that came with a new federal mandate – school districts had to spend at least 20 percent on combating learning losses. Schools have until 2024 to spend the latest round of money.

Little to learning loss so far

Of the $1.1 billion available to Oregon districts in the third round, about $18 million has been distributed so far, according to the state Education Department. That has gone to paying for summer school programs, salaries, payroll costs, retirement costs and technology and supplies. 

Districts are allowed to use the relief funds to pay for new teachers, and boost pay for current employees for taking on additional work during the pandemic and to retain them.

Of the $202 million set aside to help students catch up on their education, about $1.4 million – less than .05 percent – has been distributed so far, according to the Education Department. 

Cynthia Stinson is senior manager of federal investments and pandemic renewal at the state Education Department. She said timing is the issue with the relatively slow payout for extra learning programs.

She said most schools haven’t had to draw on the emergency funds yet to pay for tutoring, counseling, afterschool and remediation programs. Many only just recently submitted budgets to meet an October deadline set by the federal government, and some are taking a long-range approach with the money, having been given three years to spend it. 

In an email, Marc Siegel, communications director at the Education Department wrote, “It is important to note that the three relief acts came in very short succession.” 

Siegel said many districts are still spending previous rounds of money and added, “We are only a little over three months into the school year.” 

But Oregon schools have not wasted much time getting capital projects funded, some of which include renovating running tracks, getting weight training equipment and upgrading playgrounds.

Stinson said districts have been given flexibility on what they can buy. 

The Education Department doesn’t track every rejection of a district’s requested spending, but said it turned down requests for baseball and football scoreboards, some requests for bleachers, the request for a vehicle to use for student outreach and one request for a roof replacement.

“One of the goals is also to emerge stronger post pandemic,” Stinson said of the emergency funds. “As we talk with districts, and understand what it might really mean for a rural or frontier district in Oregon to redo a playground, it’s not only for all of the kids in school, but it’s the only playground in the community, right?”

The Capital Chronicle emailed 150 Oregon school district superintendents seeking information about how they used their latest round of relief dollars. Of those, 30 superintendents or district representatives responded. 

Three wrote that they had been posting reports on their district websites about where their relief dollars were going, six sent spreadsheets detailing projects and a few said they hadn’t claimed any of the latest funding but planned to.

Jeff Clark, Amity School District superintendent, said so far most of his district’s relief dollars have gone to improving learning conditions.

“We have some older buildings with poor ventilation. Supplies, materials and equipment would be next on the list,” he wrote via email. 

Clark said the district is using dollars from the state’s Student Investment Account to help recover lost learning. That’s part of the $1 billion a year Oregon schools get under the Student Success Act that was signed into law in 2019. Several district superintendents said they preferred using that more stable funding instead of short-term federal help to pay for more staff and for programming to combat learning loss.

In the Forest Grove School District, emergency relief dollars are being used for reading and math interventions and tutoring middle schoolers, summer school activities and social and emotional support staff, according to David Warner, district communications director. 

In Hermiston, Superintendent Tricia Mooney said the district wants to use the latest round of relief money to support summer school programs to help get students caught up. 

In North Bend, school officials plan to ask for $3 million to help combat learning loss. In the Siuslaw School District, they are planning to ask for about $691,000 to combat learning loss over the current school year, according to Superintendent Andrew Grzeskowiak. 

Among most of the district leaders who responded, transitions to online learning, staff, payroll and retirement, along with capital expenses and supplies were among the biggest expenses incurred so far.

HVAC and parking lots

In an effort to get schools fully reopened in the fall, the Klamath County School District initiated construction projects with the emergency funds.

The district updated HVAC systems in an elementary school and high school, and added extra classrooms to buildings so there’d be fewer kids in each room. They also added new turf fields to several schools and resurfaced a parking lot. 

Despite being short staffed, like most districts in the state, Superintendent Glen Szymoniak said the short window to use federal relief aid meant he wasn’t going to use it to do temporary hires of teachers and counselors and programs that couldn’t be sustained.

“With money that only lasts a couple years, you do projects. That’s the golden rule right there. You don’t use it to hire people and cut them loose in a few years. It gives you a bad reputation and it’s just a terrible way to treat people,” he said. 

Rather than hiring new people, he used some of the relief money to pay employees to surrender vacation time.

“We’re buying that off at a bit of a higher rate,” he said, “so that we can have them stay in the classroom.”

He also bought lawn mowers and floor cleaners that were faster and more efficient than what he had, allowing grounds staff and janitors more time to complete other sanitation and maintenance work and negating the need to do more hiring. 

“Custodians have floor scrubbers, now there’s time to sanitize. They weren’t sanitizing like this before,” he said. “Principals with tight budgets would buy cheap mowers. Well then, none of the other work gets done. With a high capacity mower [custodians] have more time to do other stuff.”

He said investments like the turf fields and running tracks were important for sustaining school programs that students needed during the pandemic.

“The first turf I applied for was for Chiloquin,” Szymoniak said of the elementary school in his district. Because of drought and the resulting water restrictions, “If there’s not enough runoff and the lake level is a certain height they shut off the irrigation for farmers, ranchers and for us. In Chiloquin, our playgrounds turn to dust,” he said. 

The turf became an essential place for students to play, have for recess and for extracurricular activities. 

Szymoniak said he’s committed to investing more than required into activities that combat learning loss. He said his district is already spending and will continue to spend upwards of 38 percent of the district’s relief dollars on learning loss. So far, the district has set up after-school tutoring and drama programs, paid for buses to get kids to and from after-school programs and provided teacher training for paraprofessionals who might consider becoming teachers in the district.

For long-term expenses, including staffing and offering more social and emotional support programs, he is using the state-funded Student Investment Account.

“Schools are institutions just like a university. You can’t run a university with a whole lot one year and barely enough the other. They run best when there is stable, consistent funding,” he said.

Accountability for the millions

Jennifer Patterson, an assistant superintendent at the Education Department, said agency officials will continue to talk with school district superintendents about how to make the most of the money.

“We would want to be in conversation with districts to say, what are you noticing about this investment? Is it yielding outcomes that you can see? And to help people do what educators do best, which is to notice a need and be responsive to shifting their investment and strategy if they’re not seeing the kinds of outcomes that they predicted.”

The department itself gets to set aside 10 percent of all the relief dollars, or roughly $165 million, for emergencies, combating learning losses, helping charter schools, the Oregon School for the Deaf and juvenile corrections programs. 

So far the department $56 million to combat learning losses.

“The arc of the money is long and we’ve talked about going slow to go fast,” Patterson said. “In the sense of, you know, this money doesn’t have to be spent until September 30, 2024. So, really taking a longer view of the investment over time, that will maximize meeting the strengths and needs of local communities and students.”

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Les Zaitz for questions: info@oregoncapitalchronicle.com. Follow Oregon Capital Chronicle on and .

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By GEOFF MULVIHILL and ANREW DeMILLO
Associated Press

The Associated Builders and Contractors is among various groups appealing a federal judge’s decision late last week to reinstate a nationwide COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employers with 100 or more employees.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the mostly nonunion ABC said it is now hoping to take its fight over the federal mandate to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs, argue the vaccination requirement “creates excessive compliance costs and regulatory burdens for job creators and threatens the national economy at a time when it is already contending with rising materials prices, supply chain disruptions and workforce shortages.”

The ABC has already seen success questioning the legal underpinning of the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandates. Earlier this month, a federal district judge stayed a separate vaccine mandate applying to employees federal contractors.

As for the requirement applying to employers with 100 or more employees, a federal appeals court panel decided on Friday to reverse a stay previously placed on the requirement, which could affect about 84 million U.S workers.

The mandate from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration was to take effect Jan. 4.

With Friday’s ruling, it remained unclear when the requirement might now be in place. But the White House said in a statement that it will protect workers: “Especially as the U.S. faces the highly transmissible Omicron variant, it’s critical we move forward with vaccination requirements and protections for workers with the urgency needed in this moment.”

Republican state attorneys general and conservative groups said they would appeal Friday’s decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Twenty-seven Republican-led states joined the conservative groups, business associations and some individual businesses as soon as OSHA published the rules in early November to push back against the requirement. They argued the agency was not authorized to issue the emergency rule, in part because the coronavirus is a general health risk and not one facing only employees at work.

The panel’s majority disagreed.

“Given OSHA’s clear and exercised authority to regulate viruses, OSHA necessarily has the authority to regulate infectious diseases that are not unique to the workplace,” Judge Julia Smith Gibbons, who was nominated to the court by former President George W. Bush, a Republican, wrote in her majority opinion.

“Vaccination and medical examinations are both tools that OSHA historically employed to contain illness in the workplace,” she wrote.

Gibbons noted that the agency’s authority extends beyond just regulating “hard hats and safety goggles.” She said the vaccine requirement “is not a novel expansion of OSHA’s power; it is an existing application of authority to a novel and dangerous worldwide pandemic.”

She was joined in the majority decision by Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch, an appointee of former President Barrack Obama, a Democrat.

The case was consolidated in the 6th circuit, which is dominated by Republican-appointed judges. Earlier this week, the circuit’s active judges rejected an attempt to have the entire panel consider the case, on an 8-8 vote.

The dissent in Friday’s ruling came from Judge Joan Larsen, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, who said Congress did not authorize OSHA to make this sort of rule and that it did not qualify as a necessity to use the emergency procedures the agency followed to put it in place.

Larsen also argued that vaccinated workers “do not face ‘grave danger’ from working with those who are not vaccinated.”

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, a Republican, said she would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to block the order. At least two conservative advocacy groups said they had already appealed to the nation’s highest court.

“The Sixth Circuit’s decision is extremely disappointing for Arkansans because it will force them to get the shot or lose their jobs,” Rutledge said.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, who also is chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association, said in a Twitter message Friday that he was confident the mandate could be stopped.

The vaccine requirement would apply to companies with 100 or more employees and would cover about 84 million workers in the U.S. Employees who are not fully vaccinated would have to wear face masks and be subject to weekly COVID-19 tests. There would be exceptions, including for those who work outdoors or only at home.

The administration has estimated that the rule would save 6,500 lives and prevent 250,000 hospitalizations over six months. On Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor, which includes OSHA, said the 6th circuit’s ruling will allow the agency to implement “common-sense, science-based measures to keep workers safe and healthy during a deadly pandemic.”

The vaccine rule for private employers is separate from other vaccine mandates announced by the Biden administration that apply to federal government contractors and workers in health care facilities that receive funding from Medicaid or Medicare. Those rules also are under assault from conservatives and have been paused in at least some parts of the country.

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The Associated General Contractors of America, along with two other construction groups, filed a legal challenge Monday to the Biden Administration’s workplace vaccine requirement.

AGC joined the American Road and Transportation Builders Association and the Signatory Wall and Ceiling Contractors Alliance in filing a petition challenging a rule that will require employees of large contractors to be vaccinated or undergo regular COVID-19 testing.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration published an emergency rule earlier this month calling on employers with 100 or more workers to ensure their workers are vaccinated by Jan. 4. In doing so, the AGC joins the Associated Builders and Contractors two dozen states and a variety of other organizations in mounting formal legal challenges of the OSHA mandate.

The trade group’s petition argues OSHA’s order will prompt “badly needed” employees to leave larger contractors or the construction industry at large in order to avoid the vaccine mandate. The legal action, filed in Virginia’s Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, contends OSHA has no statutory authority to require vaccinations.

“The new rule will put many construction companies at grave risk of losing a substantial number of their workers to smaller companies, instead of leading to more people getting vaccinated in the sector,” said Stephen Sandherr, AGC chief executive.

OSHA’s vaccine mandate will affect an estimated 84 million American workers, requiring them to get vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 tests. Companies that don’t comply with the order could be hit with fines running as high as $14,000 for each employee. Biden administration officials have argued the mandate is needed to avoid having a patchwork of local rules and to slow the spread of the virus.

The agency is separately requiring federal contractors and subcontractors to show, by Dec. 8, that their workers have been vaccinated.

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A coalition of local organizations is hosting a series of Saturday vaccination clinics for construction workers.

The effort seeks to increase vaccination rates, particularly among contractors owned by women and people of color.

“For us, it’s not just about increasing vaccination rates within the BIPOC community. It’s about our BIPOC and women-owned contractors leading the effort to protect individual workers and their loved-ones,” Kenechi Onyeagusi, executive director of the Professional Business Development Group, said in a news release.

PDBG is working with the Oregon Health Authority and the Northwest Oregon Labor Council to hold the clinics.

The remaining clinics are scheduled for Saturday, July 17, at Tualatin High School, ; and Saturday, July 24, at LiUNA! Local 737 in Portland, The clinics are offering the Pfizer vaccine. Hours are 11 a.m.-2 p.m. each day.

The clinics will offer free food and raffle prizes.

Vaccine seekers can , but it is not required.

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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The State of Oregon has fined Portland’s Creative Woodworking Northwest Inc. for what the state considers “willful” violations of regulations meant to protect workers from COVID-19.

The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health administration has issued 159 citations to employers for violating COVID-19 safety requirements since the pandemic began, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

Creative Woodworking Northwest Inc. was issued a $8,900 fine for willfully failing to ensure that face coverings were worn, according to the state. It has hired a lawyer and appealed the fine.

Hope Redmond, executive administrator for Creative Woodworking Northwest, said some employees cited health concerns related to masks and the business opted to respect those concerns.

Oregon OSHA said Monday that it will lift face covering and distancing rules for businesses and other institutions when 70 percent of Oregon adults are at least partially vaccinated.

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By SARA CLINE
Associated Press/Report for America

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — As Oregon nears its vaccination target to reopen the economy, Gov. Kate Brown announced Friday she is extending the state’s mortgage foreclosure moratorium through September.

However, the governor was unable to extend the state’s eviction moratorium — which began in April 2020, as tenants financially struggled during the pandemic. That is set to expire at the end of June.

“This means that renters must pay their July rent or their landlords can evict them for nonpayment,” Brown said.

Last month, Brown signed a bill that reinstated Oregon’s moratorium on foreclosures, which allow homeowners to put their mortgage in forbearance at least through June 30. The law also gave Brown the authority to extend the end date, which she announced she was doing on Friday.

“This is vital protection that the legislature has provided to Oregon’s home owners as we continue to rebound from the economic impacts of the pandemic,” Brown said.

However, the governor was unable to extend state’s rent moratorium. Brown urged those who will struggle to pay rent in July apply for rental assistance.

Currently the governor is working with lawmakers to pass a bill that would give tenants who apply for rental assistance “safe harbor from eviction.”

Last month, Oregon lawmakers voted to extend the grace period for past due rent during the moratorium, allowing tenants to have until Feb. 28, 2022, to pay back rent.

“Housing is a basic human need, which is why I have worked with the Legislature and our congressional delegation to devote state and federal resources to ensure that all Oregonians have a warm, dry safe place to live throughout the pandemic,” Brown said.

As the eviction moratorium is set to expire, other COVID-19 safety measures and mandates are being lifted.

Last month, Brown set statewide and county vaccination targets with the hope of reopening the state’s economy by the end of June.

In order for the state to lift mask, physical distancing and capacity restrictions, 70 percent of Oregon adults receiving at least their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine before reopening the economy. As of Friday, 67 percent of people who are 18 or older in the state had been vaccinated. Brown said 93,000 more adults must receive at least a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to reach her target.

The vaccination target for individual counties is 65 percent of adults in the area. Once a county reaches the goal, they move into the “lower risk” category which allows a county to significantly reduce its COVID-19 restrictions — 50 percent capacity for indoor dining, theaters, gyms and other indoor entertainment spaces. Currently, 21 of Oregon’s 36 counties are listed in the “lower risk” level.

For more than a year Oregon has faced some of the nation’s strictest safety measures — county risk levels, mask requirements inside and outside, limited gatherings and restaurants closed for indoor dining.

But over the past month, coronavirus case numbers and hospitalizations in the state have been improving as people continue to get vaccinated. Health officials said on Friday that during the past week, 1,725 new COVID-19 cases had been reported, the lowest weekly total since September.

“In summary, the landscape of the virus has shifted dramatically, creating what we described last week as two pandemics,” Dean Sidelinger, the state’s epidemiologist, said. “As our breakthrough data shows – the virus is overwhelmingly impacting those who are not fully vaccinated – while those vaccinated are safe from the virus.”

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By SARA CLINE
Associated Press/Report for America

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon adopted a controversial rule on Tuesday that indefinitely extends coronavirus mask and social distancing requirements for all businesses in the state.

State officials say the rule, which garnered thousands of public comments, will be in place until it is “no longer necessary to address the effects of the pandemic in the workplace.”

“We reviewed all of the comments – including the many comments that opposed the rule – and we gave particular consideration to those comments that explained their reasoning or provided concrete information,” said Michael Wood, administrator of the state’s department of Occupational Safety and Health. “Although we chose to move forward with the rule, the final product includes a number of changes based on that record.”

Oregon, which has been among those with the country’s most stringent COVID-19 restrictions, had previously had a mask rule for businesses, but it was only temporary and could not be extended beyond 180 days. That prompted Wood to create a permanent rule with the intent to repeal it at some point.

“To allow the workplace COVID-19 protections to simply go away would have left workers far less protected. And it would have left employers who want to know what is expected of them with a good deal less clarity than the rule provides,” Wood said.

But the proposal prompted a flood of angry responses, with everyone from parents to teachers to business owners and employees citing government overreach.

Wood’s agency received more than 5,000 comments —mostly critical — and nearly 70,000 residents signed a petition against the rule.

Opponents raised concerns that there is no sunset date or specific metric for when the rule would automatically be repealed. As a result, Wood said the final rule includes considerably more detail about the process and criteria that will be used to make the decision to repeal the rule.

The rule requires that employers make sure that under most circumstances people wear masks while working inside and use face coverings outside if they have to be within six feet of people. It also mandates that businesses make sure people aren’t within six feet of each other – unless that’s not practical for certain activities.

The agency said it would be considered if the rule can be repealed, starting no later than July.

Besides mask and distancing requirements, the rule — which also includes requirements and guidelines regarding air flow, ventilation, employee notification in case of an outbreak, and sanitation protocols — dovetails with separate actions and restrictions by Gov. Kate Brown, the latest being increased county risk levels.

Last week Oregon recorded the fastest-growing COVID-19 infection rate in the nation, and as a result Brown implemented further restrictions in 15 counties, including banning indoor dining at restaurants and bars and significantly decreasing capacity in gyms and indoor entertainment spaces.

The restrictions were criticized by business owners and Republican lawmakers.

On Tuesday, those counties were moved back a level, effective Friday, because the statewide seven-day average increase for hospitalized COVID-19 positive patients dropped below 15 percent. This means indoor dining and other activities will be allowed.

“With Oregonians continuing to get vaccinated each week, my expectation is that we will not return to Extreme Risk again for the duration of this pandemic,” Brown said.

So far, about one-third of Oregon’s population has been fully vaccinated.

Around 75 percent of the state’s staffed adult ICU beds and about 85 percent of the state’s staffed adult non-ICU beds are occupied, based on Oregon Health Authority data provided.

In the past month, COVID-19 hospitalizations in Oregon have more than doubled, with 345 people hospitalized with the virus as of Tuesday.

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Oregon OSHA recently fined Lowe’s Companies Inc. more than $35,000 for failing to protect workers at two stores from the COVID-19 virus.

The Lowe’s stores in Albany (on Southeast Ninth Avenue) and Redmond (on Southwest Canal Boulevard) were cited for potentially exposing employees to the coronavirus disease by allowing customers inside to not wear any form of mask or face covering, according to Oregon OHSA.

The inspections determined that supervisors at the stores were “fully aware” of the requirement to ensure customers use facial coverings and “yet intentionally decided against carrying out their responsibilities,” the agency stated.

“It is not enough to leave the protection of employees in the hands of cooperative customers,” stated Michael Wood, administrator for Oregon OSHA. “As most employers recognize, they must take appropriate steps to ensure that the rules in place are actually followed. When an employer is not prepared to take such steps, we can and will use our enforcement tools to address the issue.”

After both stores received multiple complaints, an inspection occurred and recorded three violations: a $17,500 penalty for each store for disregarding the Oregon Health Authority requirement to ensure customers inside the buildings wear facial coverings and a $600 fine for the Redmond store because it did not develop and implement both a risk assessment to identify potential employee exposure to the virus and an infection control plan.

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By ALEX VEIGA
AP Business Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The distribution of COVID-19 vaccines is fueling optimism that Americans will increasingly return to the ways they used to shop, travel and work before the pandemic.

That would be a welcome change for companies that own office buildings and hotels, or those that lease space to restaurants, bars, department stores and other retailers. These have been the hardest-hit areas of commercial real estate over the past year as the pandemic forced many businesses to shut down temporarily or operate on a limited basis.

But even as the U.S. economy appears set to roar back to life this year, as many economists now predict, demand trends for commercial real estate could take longer to recover as businesses reassess their post-pandemic needs.

This means higher vacancy rates and declining rents this year, especially for retail and office property owners, said Thomas LaSalvia, senior economist with Moody’s Analytics.

“We see such potential and plenty of anecdotes and early data of actual shifts in how we work and how we shop,” he said. “The structural changes that are going on still give us pause to say that we’ve entered a recovery in terms of office or retail.”

So far this year, the commercial real estate market has seen some positive trends, as many businesses that had to shut down or operate on a limited basis are being given the green light to open by governments amid a pullback in new coronavirus cases and a ramped-up rollout of vaccines.

In March, the national unemployment rate fell from 6.2% to 6% and employers added 916,000 jobs, the most since August. That included 216,000 positions at restaurants, hotels and bars — the sector most damaged by the pandemic.

And this week, the International Monetary Fund forecast that the U.S. economy will grow 6.4% this year. That would fastest annual pace since 1984 and the strongest among the world’s wealthiest countries.

Still, commercial real estate owners face uncertainty as tenants reevaluate their needs. Will businesses that rented office space and spent the last year with most or all of their employees working from home need as much space? Will retailers that shifted more of their operations online during the pandemic cut back on storefronts? Will businesses resume spending on travel after having embraced video conferencing?

The full impact of these assessments may not be known for a while, as commercial property leases tend to run between five and 15 years. Still, some of the economic fallout from the pandemic is already visible in national commercial real estate industry data.

The vacancy rate for retail space increased to 10.6% in the first three months of this year from 10.2 percent a year earlier, according to Moody’s Analytics. And average effective rent, what’s left after taking out concessions offered by landlords to woo tenants, dropped 1.5 percent.

Moody’s Analytics is projecting vacancy rates for retail properties will climb to 11 percent or 12 percent as businesses reconsider their space needs after last year, when the percentage of retail purchases made online nearly doubled to 20 percent.

“We actually expect that to rise closer to 25 percent by 2025,” LaSalvia said. “This pandemic forced a lot of people to pull the bandage off in terms of being willing and able to shop online.”

For office space, vacancies rose to a rate of 18.2 percent in the first quarter from 17 percent, while average effective rent fell 1.8 percent, according to Moody’s Analytics.

Before the pandemic, office vacancies had been trending around 15 percent to 16 percent nationally. LaSalvia expects that to climb to 20 percent by 2022, then decline gradually to 17 percent by the end of the decade.

Hotels have had it particularly rough. Occupancy rates sank a year ago after global leisure and business travel all but ground to a halt. The monthly occupancy rate had been running well above 60 percent in 2019 and stood at 65.7 percent in February 2020. Two months later, it sunk to 20.6 percent, according to data from Moody’s Analytics.

Occupancy improved to about 45 percent last summer, before easing again. It was 34.4 percent in January, down from 66 percent a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the average revenue per available room, or RevPAR, a key hotel industry metric, was $30.27 in January, down 64 percent from a year earlier.

Hotel occupancy is expected to pick up this summer, as more people receive a COVID-19 vaccine and feel more at ease about travel. Last month, U.S. airport security checkpoints recorded sharp increases in traffic, including more than 1.5 million people in a single day, the largest number since the pandemic began.

“The summer leisure season will be pretty good,” LaSalvia said. “But the business travel is going to hold us back a little bit this year and it’s going to take maybe a couple of years before that really picks up again.”

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The “new normal” has taken on multiple forms throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The first stage was shifting to remote work temporarily and then to a long-term work from home life. But the “new normal” is still metamorphosing as people prepare to return to the office.

With two COVID-19 vaccines approved for emergency use, the general public might start to see vaccinations late-spring to mid-summer. Work spaces need to be prepared to keep occupants safe during the pandemic for when workers gradually return.

“We haven’t actually had to teach tenants how to safely occupy a building,” Keren Eichen, director of real estate services for Unico Properties, said.

Buildings, entryways, and gathering spaces are being retrofitted to allow for social distancing. Signage is being put up reminding people to stay six-feet apart and wear a mask. Throughout the building, sanitation stations may lace the hallways; arrows placed directing one-way traffic and barriers put up to protect workstations.

ZGF Architects principal Alan Gerencer has spent nearly 30 years working on methods to build collaboration in workplaces and design environments for people to feel comfortable.

“People need to be ready to return and feel comfortable in the space,” Gerencer said. “Make sure it feels and looks clean.”

While every company will have a different approach and space to work with, Gerencer encourages businesses to survey employees about what they’re comfortable with and not. The information gathered will help inform how to design spaces.

As the pandemic progresses, Dietrich Wieland, president of Mackenzie, said the virus is impacting design on simple levels in many cases. It has made them rethink how they plan break rooms and entryways.

The firm released a COVID-19 design guide in March and updated it in May, where they looked at existing layouts, how they could be retrofitted and then reimagined.

Entryways typically have people coming and going from the same door, which places people face-to-face. As a retrofit, it could have a barrier in the middle, creating lanes for entering and exiting. A sanitation station can be placed inside the doorway, and a queue of people can wait outside to enter with markers indicating every six feet. A reimagined design has separate entry and exit points, touchless doors and a canopy to cover people waiting.

While it’s going to be a slow transition back into the office, COVID-19 has already impacted the way people look at office spaces and their importance for workplace culture.

“The beauty of the office is this touch point where we all come together,” Gerencer said.

As property managers, Unico Properties has been investing in signage, touchless technology, PPE and sanitation chemicals to get the U.S. Bancorp Tower ready for people to come back to work.

Eichen said the scale of the signage campaign required throughout the tower is the first of its kind. Signs line the building and are propped up in rooms that say “Let’s be safe” in the hallways, “Thank you for practicing social distancing,” and on the floor detailing “Stand here; stop the spread.”

Property Managers have been going above and beyond what their jobs traditionally mandate. Eichen said Unico is the busiest it has ever been in 2020.

Workers continue to remain at home as COVID-19 case numbers rise. But the planning and preparation for their returns have already started.

While 2020 comes to a close and 2021 entices a “new normal,” flexibility has been a critical clause throughout.

“It is really important to understand what is so important to people,” Gerencer said. “What is it that will make them feel comfortable and valued and what is working for them.”

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