Panel SA: Restaurant closes its doors after dismissing staff with flu

The advance of the flu outbreak, which has been affecting the operation of bars and restaurants in recent days, led businessman Arlindo Guimarães, from Manjar das Garças, Pizza do Macaco and Amazon Beer brewery, in Belém, to close its doors for a few days due to the high number of dismissed employees.

“Last week, I closed Monday, Tuesday and Saturday because of the H3N2. I wasn’t able to open it. Only the boss didn’t catch the flu,” says Guimarães.

For the businessman, who has worked in the field for decades, this is the biggest episode of influenza impact on the team, and it is heavy because it comes after a period already troubled in business by the coronavirus.

The situation worries the sector, according to Paulo Solmucci, president of Abrasel (association that brings together the establishments), who says he has noticed an increase in the volume of reports from entrepreneurs with more than five employees with a medical certificate at the same time, lacking the service.

In Espírito Santo, Rodrigo Vervloet, owner of Ensaio Botequim, claims that half of his team of 30 people 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 Ana Paula White