The Montgomery County Council has voted seven to two to lift restrictions on restaurants. Customers are now allowed to be at 25 percent capacity, and indoor dining is limited to 90 minutes per table.
Over the past year, businesses and families have been massively hit by COVID-19, and restaurants are now finally being opened at limited capacity, much to the relief of owners of restaurants in Montgomery County.
Black Lion Cafe closed about a year ago and was closed for about two months. They, like all businesses during the pandemic, were really worried and did not know how long the situation would last, as no one was aware of the magnitude of what was really happening at the time.
“When we reopened, we knew that things would not be as they were pre-COVID; however, we needed to open because our shop is a community-based kind of shop, which means that we are here to serve the community around us,” Black Lion Cafe Manager Emmanuel Manolis said. “We are very in line with any agreement with the county as far as health and safety are concerned, so masking and social distancing are still something that we follow very strictly in the store.”
The relationship between businesses, the government and business owners with COVID-19 restrictions has been turbulent.
“We closed on March 16. We basically didn’t know what was going to hit, and we thought it was going to be a 2-week thing. We shut down and ended up doing carry-out business only, and we had curfew at 5. Every day when we woke up, COVID got worse and worse, and we ended up having to use a skeleton crew, which was a system in which we have 2 people in the restaurant, and mostly carry out,” CAVA Maitre d’ Gus Moshovitis said. “Business was really hurt, and really the only reason we were open was to pay our employees, to put food on their tables, it was really scary. Effects on business were way worse than expected, and at any moment, the ship could have gone down.”
During the early stages of the pandemic, restaurants were some of the first places to close down. The lack of business for multiple months created massive dents in the revenue of the restaurants and reopening to limited capacity was deemed necessary.
“My logic is that the big box stores like Giant have 400 people and we couldn’t be open? While we took all the precautions, it was frustrating to not be allowed to open up to 25% capacity,” Moshovitis said.
According to NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, only 1.4% of COVID cases come from restaurants. Those who own restaurants are losing income because of not being allowed to open.
“The rest of the world was opening up, and Montgomery County was shut down. I don’t think business will get to a pre-COVID level until we get herd immunity, and even then, I think people will still be wearing masks if they want to, and I think it will take another six months, from what I’ve seen, to get to that level again,” CAVA Maitre d’ Gus Moshovitis said.
Article by Simon Kidane of Wootton High School
Graphic by Angelina Guhl of Richard Montgomery High School