Walmart is able to sell shoes and clothes at its Delaware stores during the coronavirus pandemic, but shoe and clothing shops cannot.

A Dover hemp store is permitted to remain open and sell cannabidiol, while a nearby competitor – which also sells the marijuana derivative, in addition to pipes and T-shirts – cannot.

And pet stores are open to regular customers while gun shops are seeing customers by appointment only.

The question of how Delaware deemed specific businesses or industries "essential" during the coronavirus pandemic is being asked by a growing chorus of employees, business owners and customers.

Yet, Gov. John Carney's administration has not provided clear answers. With Freedom of Information Act requirements rescinded during a state of emergency, the public may not know for a prolonged period of time how the state settled on the economic restrictions.

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Responding to a ballooning health crisis last month, Carney declared a state of emergency in Delaware, and with it published a list of industries he would allow to remain open while others would be ordered to close.

On Wednesday, The News Journal sent Carney's office a list of questions on the topic, including inquiries about specific exceptions to the state's essential-business list.

In an emailed reply, Carney administration officials repeated past proclamations but did not directly answer each question. The response said the economic restrictions "are intended to prevent a surge in (coronavirus) cases, preserve our hospital capacity and save lives."

The governor took advice from health experts and agencies outside Delaware while considering which businesses could operate while limiting the spread of the virus, and which products the public needs to be safe, they said in the email.

"The first priority has always been the safety of Delawareans. Within that context, we did our best to balance public health with keeping businesses operating when possible," the email stated.

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Despite the assurances, an outspoken owner of a Dover hemp and smoke shop called the government's process of deciding essential businesses "arbitrary and unfair."

Sam Chick said his business, Puffster, serves people's health needs by selling a legal medicinal marijuana chemical, called cannabidiol, or CBD. Initially, the government deemed his downtown Dover company an essential business.

Chick said he voluntarily closed off space within the shop and limited it "to just a few customers at a time."

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But a day after the initial essential designation, he said Dover police appeared at his shop with a cease a desist order from the state. Chick said he called a phone number on the order and then negotiated a limited opening for his shop. He said he was allowed to sell to customers from a table along the sidewalk, outside his Loockerman Street store.

But again, a day later, there was another visit from the authorities, he said. They told him no customers were allowed to come to the location, either outside or inside.

Chick called the ruling unfair, noting that a competing CBD shop in Dover remained open.

"After that, we went through the appeals process, which is just emailing somebody," said Chick, who in 2014 ran for a seat in the Delaware legislature as a Republican.

Chick shared with The News Journal the appeal his company emailed to the state Division of Small Business. In it, his co-owner argued that while Puffster's industry had been removed from the essential list, so were department stores. Yet companies like Walmart continued to operate, the co-owner argued.

The state denied the appeal.

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Around the same time as Chick's appeal, employees at a New Castle County medical billing shop were questioning the logic behind keeping their business open. Last week, some told The News Journal that a requirement to come to their suburban office could put them at risk. They also questioned why the state considered the business essential.

Later, the company instituted a work from home policy.

Delaware employees working at the corporate offices of various banks have expressed similar frustrations as those at the medical billing office.

Flood of appeals

After publishing its first version of Delaware's essential industry list, the Division of Small Business received a flood of appeals. During a press conference last week, Carney said there were "thousands" of such challenges.

The News Journal requested, under FOIA law, copies of appeals and the state's responses to them. A state official said a formal response would come "15 business days following the termination of any active Declaration of a State of Emergency."

Asked at a Wednesday news conference about a suspension of FOIA, Carney said, “We’ve been trying to do just the opposite. I didn’t really even know that we had those requests."

A subsequent statement from the governor's office said Delaware continues to process requests, but "emergency restrictions in place allow us to extend the deadline for responses to FOIA requests, considering we’re in a State of Emergency."

The News Journal also has requested records of Delaware's purchases of ventilators, hand sanitizer and masks, and has asked for details about a $1.25 billion infusion the state should receive in federal relief funds.

Asked when the emergency declaration could be lifted, a spokesman for Carney said such a decision would be driven by "transmission and infection rates."

Carney on Thursday said experts are struggling to figure out when Delaware's peak in coronavirus cases might occur but estimated that it could happen "a couple weeks behind" Philadelphia's.

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Why pet stores?

During a news conference last week, Carney said decisions about businesses deemed essential were based on "common sense."

"We tried to keep businesses that people need in order to survive, food medicine, home supplies," he said.

THE LIST:What is essential and nonessential during a pandemic?

But an analysis of past versions of Carney's essential industry list shows those decisions were not always immediately clear.

Carney has categorized essential industries by a set of designations created by the federal government and widely used across the country.

On March 23, he deemed companies within an industry designated as "other miscellaneous store retailers" as essential. The broad category includes art sellers, mobile home dealers and tobacco stores, as well as the Dover hemp and smoke shop.

The next day he declared those businesses nonessential, with an exception for pet stores.

The opposite occurred for businesses classified as social advocacy organizations. Initially, they were nonessential, but employees in the industry would be permitted to work from home.

Three hours later, the governor changed course, designating them essential. The social advocacy industry is made up of any entity that primarily promotes a cause or "specific social or political goal."

Businesses within another industry group, called "other personal services," followed a similar path. Initially deemed nonessential on March 23, Carney quickly created a carve-out for parking lots and garages. By the end of the day, he made yet another exception for pet care services.

Among the questions unanswered by the Carney Administration was why the governor made exceptions for pet stores and pet service companies.

The owner of a pet boarding, grooming and supply store, Rep. Bryan Shupe, R-Milford, said he has "no clue" why his industry benefited from the exemption.

He said his understanding is the governor initially used federal industry categories to select essential businesses, then adjusted them "when they saw stuff on the street level."

He said he did not request the change for pet companies.

"I really haven't heard anything from the state of Delaware why that was or why that wasn't changed," Shupe said.

For his part, Shupe questioned why liquor stores in were Delaware permitted to stay open.

In past days, Carney said he was allowing alcohol sellers to continue to operate so people who are addicted don't flood emergency rooms, suffering withdrawal symptoms.

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Contact Karl Baker at kbaker@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2329. Follow him on Twitter @kbaker6.