One of these locations has existed for Portuguese gastronomy for 46 years, known as Portugal Avenue in Newark, and a new administration was passed eight months ago in the midst of the 19-covid epidemic.
The previous year at Picnic Portuguese BBQ & Grill was “very tough” and the business is still going through a “very complicated” period, the owner, Rodolfo Sakihama, told Lusa.
Despite New Jersey state government’s emphasis on life, commerce and business may soon be back to normal, adherence is still weak and population fears are huge, from the point of view of business leaders or places of trust.
“I haven’t felt much of a difference yet, I think some people are still scared,” said Rodolfo Sakihama, noting that things are moving “slowly, very slowly”.
Marco Olivera, 20 years manager at Adega Grill Restaurant on Ferry Street, also told Lusa that despite the very busy hours, the Kovid-19 epidemic is still greatly affecting work.
For the person in charge, the business is rapidly approaching normal activity. On Saturdays, the restaurant serves 300 to 400 dinners.
Marco Oliveira explained, “We’re not there yet, but it’s almost there,” adding that when it returns to 100%, the restaurant can seat 500 people in four rooms.
In addition to all the changes to the operation and management of the restaurant, the government’s unemployment benefits also changed the work of employees, who are believed to be the managers of Adega Grill.
The restaurant employed 54 people, but it had 16 employees during the epidemic.
“We’re almost there”, after the restrictions and the business has reopened, “but there are many people who don’t want to go back to work”, the manager announced.
Marco Olivera said that the vaccination against Kovid-19 allowed a more pronounced withdrawal from a portion of normal customers over the age of 60 “but still with little fear”.
As of last weekend, it was mandatory for restaurants in the city of Newark to close at midnight. An executive order now indicates that restaurants can operate in interior spaces as early as 2:00 pm, but they must discontinue roofing services at midnight.
Sport club Portugus finished its 99th year. The social center established by the Portuguese, but “which receives all the communities”, is almost in the year of its century, a date which will be celebrated on 23 December.
Bar director Vittor Araújo said that “Sport Club Português suffered a lot, as other clubs suffered losses”.
“It’s like everything, the bigger the ship, the bigger the storm”, he admitted.
After nearly a year had ended, the club’s reopening began in March, “slowly, slowly, with a few people and masks for three, four days (…),” the bar director told Lusa. told.
The indoor space is operating at 50% capacity, while the club courtyard can accommodate more people.
However, there are still some that appear.
“There are very few people. Some people are still scared, some are lost, used to come here, but they may have gone somewhere else” or already “that thing to stay at home.” “, Because he was forced during imprisonment.
“Little by little they are coming, slowly people are coming”, Vittor Araujo said, “We are not seeing a very big start”.
According to the balance maintained by the independent university John Hopkins, the Kovid-19 epidemic has caused more than 3 million and 446 thousand deaths worldwide, resulting in more than 166 million cases of infection.
The United States was the most affected country with over 590,000 deaths out of 33 million cases of infection.
In 2020, to combat the epidemic, governments sent 4.5 billion people (more than half of the world’s population) home, shut down non-essential trade and drastically reduce air traffic, crippling entire sectors of the world economy. Have become.
