Panel SA: Flu outbreak among employees worries bars and restaurants

The flu outbreak is starting to worry the owners of bars and restaurants, who have noticed an increase in the volume of layoffs of contaminated employees. Some operations are already suffering to cover the absence of five or more employees at the same time, according to Paulo Solmucci, president of Abrasel (the association that brings together the establishments).

Since last week, the organization has been receiving reports of cases in bars and restaurants in Alagoas, Goiás and Rio Grande do Norte, but in a proportion considered reasonable, according to the businessmen.

Solmucci says that, this Monday (27), the records for the weekend began to spread to capitals such as Cuiabá, Vitória and Belém.

The situation is a warning because, if the wave advances, it will be another blow to the sector’s businesses, which were severely impacted during the most serious periods of the pandemic.

“One of the houses had to close and the other dismissed half of the employees with flu certificates”, says Solmucci.

Rodrigo Vervloet, owner of the Botequim Essay, says that half of his 30-person team has already caught the flu. In a single day, he had eight employees on leave and had to call freelancers to be able to open the restaurant and serve customers. “The problem is that, until the symptoms appear, the infected employee has already transmitted it”, he says.

with Andressa Motter e Ana Paula White