ROCK HILL, S.C. — After weeks of shut downs during the pandemic, businesses are just now starting to slowly recover.
But looming like dark shadow, the possibility that they’ll have to close again if employees get COVID-19.
Some worry they won’t survive it.
Jon Fortes is the chef behind the Flipside Restaurant Group, including his newest project – Salmeri’s italian restaurant.
“It’s doing okay. We opened two weeks before this started in March, so propably not the best time,” Fortes said.
Okay is not a word Fortes is used to when it comes to his work, but after weeks of being closed because of the pandemic and slowly reopening, most restaurants are just doing okay.
“We have 90 employees, so to close not just one but two or three of our restaurants, it jeopardizes not just 90 employees, but their families as well,” Fortes said.
Fortes says since both Fort Mill and Rock Hill passed ordinances requiring face masks inside, all guests and employees must get their temperature checked.
It’s to protect his employees, his customers and his business.
“Bills still have to be paid, employees still have to be paid. It’s not good for the economy if we have to close down because people have to go on unemployment,” Fortes said. “But for my wife and I who are the sole owners of this whole thing, it’s challenging. It’s stressful every single day.”
Rock Hill Mayor John Gettys says keeping businesses open is one of the main reasons that face coverings ordinance passed. He says if they keep having to close because employees are getting sick, some businesses may never recover.
“How many times can a restaurant, for example, which is one of the most fragile businesses in our economy and always has been and always will be because of the type of business that they have, how can they sustain their business model going forward if they’re shut down again and their employees go somewhere else so they’re not shut down repeatedly,” Gettys said.
Businesses were a central discussion when council voted to make face coverings mandatory
Fortes says they will enforce the rules.
