LAS VEGAS (KTNV) – Right now, restaurants are among the hardest hit by failure to meet the June 1st reopening deadline. If the vaccination goal of 60% is achieved, it would have been the first time since the pandemic began that customers were 100% occupied.
Today 13 Action News spoke to two restaurants, an owner and a manager, who said they were sad to hear we are no longer on track to fully reopen on June 1st but they are ready to do something to wait longer.
At both Lotus of Siam’s Las Vegas locations, manager Courtney Barnett was looking forward to June 1, when she won’t have to turn away customers or split families due to COVID-19 capacity limits.
“It’s quite difficult to deal with just to communicate because we’re literally the middleman trying to get the mandate guidelines down. For the most part, people understand. But we have some situations where they’re all vaccinated. They are all a family and they can’t sit at one table and it’s hard to get the message across that that’s not an option. We have to keep them separate, “said Barnett.
But today she found out that Clark County is unlikely to meet vaccination requirements for restaurants to fully reopen on June 1st.
“It’s disappointing, but I understand. And we’re obviously here to work safely. That’s our priority to contribute to the state but also to follow guidelines. We don’t want to contribute to COVID anymore.
Barnett says when you compare the capacity between 80% and 100% there is definitely a difference.
“You can feel the difference, but it’s better than 25%, better than the 30%. Any greater percentage we’re grateful for,” said Barnett.
Kristen Corral wasn’t pleased to hear the news either. She too can hardly wait to welcome more guests back to her two takotarian locations, and she knows others who need the additional income even more.
“We’d like to get back to a place where we can all sit down. Small businesses, we’re lucky. We could take away and do all these other things, but not every restaurant or small business is there. A lot of people have been forced to shut down permanently or lose a lot of money or shut down temporarily, and all of those things have really affected small businesses and small business owners, “Corral said.
Both Barnett and Corral encourage everyone to get vaccinated. They say they know it’s a personal choice, but it’s also what keeps everything in Clark County from reopening fully.
If you would like to apply to Tacotarian, click on this link.
If you would like to apply to Lotus of Siam, click this link.
