COLUMBUS, Ohio - Are businesses that wash cars essential during Ohio’s current Stay at Home edict?  It all depends on how they do the job.

The Ohio Department of Health provided a list of businesses considered essential and thus exempt from the order designed to stop the spread of coronavirus. 

It’s up to local health departments to make sure businesses are complying with the order. However, some county health departments have different interpretations as to which businesses are essential and those which are non-essential.

To address those issues, the state created a Dispute Resolution Commission to make a final decision on who can stay open and who must close.

One of those conflicts involved car wash businesses.

The commission has ruled that the Cuyahoga and Summit County Health Departments properly interpreted the order in determining that car wash services are essential, but only under certain circumstances.

 Employees must have no direct interactions with customers, and those workers may not hand-wash or hand-dry vehicles.

Employees must be limited to only those needed to operate the business and they must maintain social distancing and comply with the other requirements of the order.

Government contractors providing services to first responder vehicles are also deemed essential businesses so long as employees maintain social distancing and comply with the other requirements outlined in the Order.

The commission has also ruled that pet grooming and CBD businesses are considered non-essential and must close in Ohio.

The commission’s first case involved differences between the Mahoning and Trumbull County health departments on pet grooming.

The commission found that Trumbull County properly interpreted the order and ordered Mahoning County health officials to do the same.

The orders apply statewide and are considered final.