It was not that long ago when Lowcountry restaurants started operating at full service, but the recent surge in numbers forced them to bring some of the Covid-19 restrictions back in force.
Many restaurants around the country already implemented their well-known precaution measures depending on the are where they operate and what is the Covid-19 situation there.
The latest Lowcountry restaurant to join the list with restrictions is Nico Oysters + Seafood in Mount Pleasant. As many other restaurants, Nico Oysters + Seafood had pretty tough year and was only able to serve take-away customers for the first two months in the pandemic followed by opening their patio to serve clients.
The restaurant started opening their indoor area with safety distance between tables and customers until the fully reopened and started full operations. And just when everyone thought the situation is going to be better, the Covid-19 cases started surging again.
The owner, Nico Romo, said they are starting to implement some of the well-known Covid-19 safety measures in order to prevent the staff and the clients to avoid possible closure in a situation with high daily numbers and workers shortage.
“I was hoping like everybody else in the world right now that COVID would be way behind us, but it’s not. It’s still here,” Romo said. ” We brought back our plastic menu that we could easily sanitize, and we just put everything back on. We have asked our staff to wear masks again and we are separating bar seating for social distance.”
The vaccines efficacy drops when it comes to the Delta variant, but the owner doesn’t want to risk anything despite the fact that most of his employees are fully vaccinated.
Their latest decision was supported by most of their regular clients. However, there were some that didn’t like the measures and posted negative reviews on social media, he says.
According to Nico, among the new policies is mandatory face masks for employees. He added that he wants to brings the best possible and safe experience for everyone involved in the restaurant saying the guests are not required to wear masks.
“The virus is going to run its course no matter what we do, but slowing down and trying to do everything we can to protect each other is what we think is the best route, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do,” Romo said.
As of now, there are no specific measures in general for the restaurants in the area. Every restaurant should decide for themselves if they are about to implement any precaution measures and decide what’s best for them.
“You have the ‘We don’t want to wear a masks side and we have to we need to wear masks’ side. Ultimately in our stores we’re going to continue following what we’re mandated to do‚ but we’re also going to continue pursue not wearing masks and everyone getting healthy again,” Jeff Diehl with the Charleston Hospitality Group said.
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