More than half of North Carolina's restaurants may permanently close because of COVID-19 https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/mo...rmanently-close-because-of-covid-19/19088709/ Saddled with debt, payroll and mounting utility bills North Carolina restaurants are struggling to remain open even as the state starts to ease stay-at-home restrictions. Gov. Roy Cooper’s plan to reopen restaurants with limitations beginning May 22, but owners are having to make tough choices right now. “Every day it gets harder and harder,” said Lou Redas, the owner of An American Table in Rocky Mount. Only 35% of restaurant owners in the state have indicated that they can stay afloat beyond two months of closing down or offering limited service, according to the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Associations. That two month marker is rapidly approaching. Restaurants in North Carolina shut down around March 17 to adhere to restrictions put in place to reduce the spread of coronavirus. “I think we are going to see a number of restaurants who don’t make it,” said Lynn Minges, the president and CEO of the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Associations. “We already are and we are expecting those to continue as this drags on.” Hotspots like Chuck's Burger Restaurant in Raleigh, known for their community spirit and creative burgers with avocado, kale and bacon-onion jam, will be closing--taking a little piece of downtown Raleigh culture with them. [Note: This article does not provide the entire story about Chuck's. It is owned by James Beard Award-winning chef Ashley Christensen - who owns several restaurants. Chuck's was struggling from a business perspective even before COVID-19 showed up. Burger joints do not make the returns that more up-scale venues do. The owner, Ashley Christensen, is merely merging the space occupied by Chuck's as the expansion space for next door restaurant Beasley's which she also owns. Many of the Chuck's menu items including a signature burger, fries and shakes will be added to the Beasley's menu. Christensen also owns Death and Taxes, Poole's Diner, Fox Liquor Bar and Poole'side Pies in downtown Raleigh.] On Tuesday, Chuck’s announced via Facebook that it was shutting down permanently. “It’s with a heavy heart that we announce that Chuck’s will not be re-opening when COVID-19 restrictions lift. This pandemic has been devastating to our industry, and we have spent the last few weeks thinking through solutions for survival, and how to bring our team back to work again,” the post read.
Biggest problem I see as I speak with friends and fmaily in different States is I hear many of them expressing fear of going out to any places even if they re open. When I comment that if they are waiting to go out only when COVID is 100% gone, that day really will not come and all that matters is precautions we can take and risk factors. Many are afraid to let their kids go back to sports in June or camps or anything with crowds. I think we have two major hurdles. Opening up correctly and convincing people to come out once phased in opening occurs. I think the former is a lot easier to overcome than the latter. Me personally? I am willing to go out and take a chance with good hygiene practices and masks if I need to. But peope worry you can still bring it home to fmaily members who will not go out... This is the bigger battle we face culturally and fear will do more damage than facts.
My wife tells her medical friends are not afraid because they have been in hospitals and you can't really practice social distancing at all times. They are more fatalistic about catching it and are not too worried. Most are in good shape. Whereas many of her friends who have been locked down are constantly expressing fear. They inevitably ask her if the hospitals are still crowded and they are stunned to here the hospitals are half closed with relatively empty ERs.
Anecdotal B.S. once again. I’ve been out every day, people are out and about exercising, kids riding bikes, people having cocktails while they wait for take-out. Some with masks. Some a-hole in the passenger seat of a Mercedes driving by asked where my mask was and I pointed to my crotch....Nobody’s staying in anymore. Time to open up.
This is my experience as well, some not being comfortable at all venturing out, others chomping at the bit to roll out one hundred percent, but most somewhere in the middle of that. I think most will stick their toe in the water, but if there's much of a spike at all in deaths they'll pull back fast, and since some kind of spike is a given it really all depends on how that spike is reported. We're pretty much dependent on a honest, rational and non partisan media to lead the way. IOW, I expect a disaster
How come this same exact thing has showed up in my FB feedback 20 times today by different people. At this point it is nothing more than spam. Probably written by someone who doesn't even know anyone working near D.C. Not going to even debate if it is correct or incorrect. I will leave that to others.
Here is what needs to happen, right now this minute. An expected and acceptable number of an increase in rate of infections and deaths needs to be clearly established by every single governor. This needs to be done very publicly with health professionals on board as well. If they don't do this it leaves us wide open to media exaggerations and blatant political partisanship being thrown at us all day, everyday. They must also clearly state what happens and at what points we may have to throttle back any reopening should spikes exceed established levels. Anything less is irresponsible and doomed to failure. Next week is too late for this as we're already in the beginning stages of reopening.