Steven Fitzpatrick Smith suddenly closed his south St. Louis bar and restaurant, The Royale, on Saturday for the third time since the coronavirus pandemic started.
He鈥檇 spent the previous several weeks juggling employees鈥� quarantine schedules as they either came down with COVID-19 or were exposed to it over the holidays.
鈥淚鈥檓 like, 鈥橧f people are going to keep getting sick like this, I鈥檓 not going to be able to staff, I鈥檓 not going to have any customers 鈥� or at least not enough,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淚t just went through my head that day, 鈥楽crew it.鈥欌��
Fitzpatrick Smith moved up his planned two-week winter break and closed the restaurant.
He鈥檚 not the only one switching up his business strategy as the highly contagious omicron variant rips across the St. Louis region.
Many educational and entertainment attractions have also temporarily closed their doors through the end of the month, including , the , the and the , among others.
Glenn MacDonald, an economist and professor at Washington University鈥檚 Olin School of Business, said many organizations and small businesses spent the early parts of the pandemic hammering out strategies for adapting to surges in the virus.
鈥淭hey kind of dial them down or up as conditions allow,鈥� he said. 鈥淎t the moment they鈥檙e kind of hunkering down like they were earlier last fall and they鈥檙e waiting it out and hoping it goes quickly.鈥�
Local public health officials are urging people to avoid unnecessary activities over the next few weeks.
In St. Louis there is a mask mandate in effect on all indoor public spaces. But unlike early in the pandemic, St. Louis businesses are not required to enforce masks or limit capacity.
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones told reporters Thursday that it isn鈥檛 currently feasible to implement stronger mandates because many people visit the city from surrounding counties.
Jones said she鈥檚 taking advice from the city鈥檚 health director, Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis.
鈥淪he has made a strong recommendation that we avoid social gatherings in order to slow the spread, as well as we have to continue getting vaccinated,鈥� Jones said.
She鈥檚 encouraging people to upgrade to KN95 or N95 masks.
Some restaurants are still struggling with getting people to comply with their mask rules.
鈥淚t's like pulling teeth for us to get people to actually wear a mask in our restaurant,鈥� said Lisa Aubuchon, the manager at a Fuddruckers franchise in Sunset Hills.
She said the latest surge is colliding with ongoing challenges in finding enough employees 鈥� a problem that鈥檚 for months.
Aubuchon is running the burger joint with about a third of the number of employees as usual and with service reduced from seven days a week to five. She said that when the pandemic first hit, the restaurant switched to a takeout-only model but couldn鈥檛 afford to do it again.
鈥淭hat would be just be the death of us,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e wouldn't even be able to pay the employees that we do have if we did that, so that's not even an option.鈥�
But Aubuschon said she worries about employees getting sick as the virus spreads rapidly in the region and how that could hurt the finances of the business too.
鈥淚f one employee gets it 鈥� we're so close knit here 鈥� we're all going to get it, and then there we go. Shut down again,鈥� she said.
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