■ As Restrictions Ease, Restaurants Look Forward

Daniel Lin / DN-R

Steve Cronise, of Roanoke, goes through the hot bar at Traditions Family Restaurant earlier this month.

By IAN MUNRO

Daily News-Record

As the vaccination rate rises, local restaurants are also seeing an increase in visits, according to local operators.

“In the past month or so, we have seen a bit of an increase with our customers, which is great,” said Kayla Smith, owner of Traditions Family Restaurant in Harrisonburg.

She said much of the increase in customers returning is based on the vaccine, especially older clientele.

“I’ve had a lot of customers say they’ve been vaccinated or say the fact other people have been vaccinated is making them more comfortable” to come out and eat, Smith said.

Ridwan, owner of BoBoKo Indonesian Cafe in Harrisonburg, also said he has seen business pick up, but his five-table restaurant still sells most of its orders online for pickup.

On April 22, Gov. Ralph Northam announced restaurants could begin seating at bars again as part of the increasingly frequent rollbacks of COVID-19 mitigation rules as vaccination rates rise and hospitalizations and deaths slow. On May 14, Northam lifted the state’s universal indoor mask mandate for fully vaccinated people, which went into effect at midnight — putting Virginia in line with May 13’s guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Northam also said that on May 28 he’ll lift all capacity and distancing requirements. Business will still be allowed to require masks and masks will be required in schools, Northam said in

See RESTAURANTS, Page 11

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even with 8.8 million fewer jobs, according to Haltom.

Though positions have been eliminated, employers have “streamlined” operations to keep production moving with fewer hands, through automation or other adjustments, according to Haltom.

The supply chain disruptions from the pandemic are also constricting the recovery, she said.

Businesses have reported their biggest problem to recovery is the availability of workers and their second is the lack of materials, according to data from reserve bank surveys.

Contact Ian Munro at 574-6278 or imunro@dnronline.com. Follow Ian on Twitter @iamIanMunro