'Herculean effort' needed for local hospitality industry to recover pbn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pbn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
RHODE ISLAND RESTAURANTS, such as these on Federal Hill in Providence, have been operating under state restrictions since November. / COURTESY FEDERAL HILL COMMERCE ASSOCIATION PROVIDENCE – Restaurants that have been required to close early for more than two months because of the ongoing pandemic will be freed of that state requirement starting Sunday. The R.I. Department of Health announced it would drop that restriction, in a news conference Thursday. The relaxation comes even as state health officials say they…
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In the waning days of 2020, as a pandemic ravages New England, Evan Smith has a notion that buoys him.
It contrasts sharply with the nightmarish challenges that tested him this year when he says disease-driven economic conditions forced him to cut staff at his travel-focused marketing firm, Discover Newport.
In Smith’s vision, it’s mid to late summer 2021. By then, vaccines have protected huge segments of the population from the virus that causes COVID-19.
People all over the Northeast are traveling, dining out and breathing more freely.
“We will start to feel freedom of mobility,” Smith says. “That is going to be a euphoric, wonderful thing for a lot of people.”
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Coronavirus restrictions on many businesses, including restaurants and gyms, will be extended through December 20. (Shutterstock)
EAST PROVIDENCE, RI At Thursday s coronavirus press conference, Governor Gina Raimondo announced a one-week extension of Rhode Island s two-week coronavirus pause, keeping many restrictions and forced closures in place for businesses statewide, including restaurants and gyms.
The guidelines of the pause, which is now scheduled to expire on December 20, state that restaurant capacity is limited to 33 percent, with only one household per table. There is also a curfew of 10 p.m. on weekdays and 10:30 p.m. on weekends. The two-week PAUSE has been just one more difficult period for the restaurant industry on the heels of an incredibly difficult year, said Dale J. Venturini, President & CEO of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association, in a statement. It has made an already financially-devastating situation worse for business owners and staff,