Philadelphia restaurant owners ‘really worried right now’: Industry exec
Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association President Ben Fileccia on Philadelphia reinstating indoor mask mandate.
Philadelphia restaurants are going back to enforcing masks for customers after health officials announced Monday they are reimposing the indoor mask mandate in response to an increase in COVID cases.
Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association President Ben Fileccia told "Fox & Friends Wednesday restaurant owners in the city are "really worried" about the impact of the mandate on their businesses.
"We have just started to come back from this pandemic. People are starting to come back to the city and joining us at restaurants, having events, having weddings and all of a sudden this throws a whole wrench [into it]," Fileccia told host Ainsley Earhardt.
PHILADELPHIA REIMPOSES INDOOR MASK MANDATE IN RESPONSE TO RISING OMICRON BA.2 CASES
Fileccia said Philadelphia is the only county of 67 in Pennsylvania with an indoor mask mandate, which will go into effect on Monday.
"We want people back into Philly. We want people back, joining us at restaurants. This is just going to hurt," he said.
Information signs are displayed at a retail store in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced plans that Illinois' mask mandate to be lifted Feb. 28 with exceptions for schools, hospitals, nursing homes. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) (AP Images)
"Recently we've been watching COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise in several European countries and some places in the US, and now were starting to see cases here in Philadelphia rise," Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole said at a press briefing on Monday afternoon. "We're reintroducing the mask mandate in Philadelphia."
Philadelphia appears to be the first major city to reimpose an indoor mask mandate after local governments and states across the country lifted them earlier this year in response to plummeting cases.
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On top of pandemic woes, Fileccia said restaurants have had issues with labor, supply chains and inflation increasing the cost of goods.
"They went through so much in the past two years. And we had years to recover from this. And any bump in the road right now could spell doom for a lot of these small businesses in Philly," he said.
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