QCOSTARICA – Bars are the hardest hit every time the Government changes the nighttime vehicle restriction, forcing earlier closing hours.
The latest decision by the government to start the measure at 10 pm and no longer at 12 midnight, between January 11 and 23, is no exception, and bar owners want an explanation.
Layoffs are the consequence most pointed out who have suffered financially from the health rule announced as a strategy to reduce contagion by Covid.
Luis Arias is one of those people who will have to make difficult decisions to sustain his business.
Dagoberto Cerdas is another of those affected, who spoke openly on Radio Columbia, and who will now have to “manage somehow” to reorganize his expenses such as rent and payroll.
Ronald Villalobos, who also participated in the radio program, qualifies the measure as absurd because he assures that tourists like to go to dinner after 9 or 10 at night.
Villalobos also thinks that, inevitably, he will have to do without the services of a part of his staff.
The scenario offered by the three owners is, they assure, is typical of the sector that every time there is a change in the capacity or closing hours, they are the most affected.
Meanwhile, the Association of Bars and Restaurants (Asociación de Bares y Restaurantes) defends that all its affiliated businesses comply with health protocols to avoid contagion by Covid.
This situation leads them to demand that the Government reveal the technical criteria that motivate it to extend the vehicle restriction, according to their spokesman Alfredo Román.
The merchants accuse the Government of being senseless because, despite the pandemic, they, the bar owners, continue to comply with the payment of taxes, social charges, and municipal and operating permits, while being restricted from operating fully.
The government of Carlos Alvarado, on Monday, announced the 10 pm closing for 12 days to face the daily high number of covid-19 infections, that is expected to get worse in the coming days, due mainly to the highly contagious omicron variant.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health, reported another record-breaking day of new infections, 4,170, breaking the record set the previous day of 4,050 new infections. This has also had an effect on medical services, the number of people requiring hospitalizations grew to 242, from 223 on Monday.
Also, there have been reports of people waiting hours, up to six in some health areas, to get a covid test done, to which the Ministry of Health reports that, on average, 60% of those tested test positive for covid-19.