When will cafes and restaurants open in Moscow after the quarantine

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

It is still difficult to make any predictions about the expiry date of the quarantine in Moscow, extended by Sergei Sobyanin until May 31, 2020. Rospotrebnadzor has published recommendations for a gradual recovery from the collapse after the pandemic. They partially answer the question of when the cafes and restaurants will open.

How are things at catering

A month ago, a public opinion poll was conducted using a random selection of telephone numbers of restaurateurs and owners of small outlets. Even then, in anonymous mode, the respondents sounded information that if the quarantine drags on for a month, a third of the owners of catering establishments who do not work with take-out sales and home delivery of products will be forced to close their business.

A quarter of them were sadly convinced that after the extended regime of severe restrictions until the summer, they had no chances to start their activities again, even in a limited format.

The plight of cafes and restaurants in Moscow is now widely covered in the media:

1. The overwhelming majority of authors of publications are sure that the fate of catering in the capital is unpredictable - one cannot even roughly answer when even small points are opened, while the high alert mode is extended and additional measures to counter infection are introduced.
2. V. Zuev, head of the department of the Gamaleya Institute, answering the persistent questions of journalists, again reported already known information. The world medical community still has little information to draw any conclusions with any certainty.
3. A statistical survey showed that the fate of almost half of the previously successfully operating coffee houses and eateries, but that have not established take-out and home delivery, depends on the answer when the restaurants, favorite by Muscovites, are opened after quarantine. There is a lot of competition in this area, mainly those who have worked in a similar format before survive. In addition, many people do not work and do not particularly have the means to order food from cafes and restaurants.
4. Rospotrebnadzor, with its step-by-step recommendations, can give approximate answers about cafes and restaurants in regions where local authorities, at their discretion, have already launched backbone enterprises and some areas of the service sector: car washes and car services, red salons and hairdressing salons. But neither Rospotrebnadzor nor the Infection Control Operational Headquarters can say anything about the situation in Moscow. Russia has a sad primacy in Europe in terms of the number of people infected with coronavirus. In the first place in the Russian Federation is its capital.

When discussing the published plan to phase out the economy from the collapse, the opinion is invariably expressed that the removal of isolation and the absence of previous preventive measures can aggravate the situation, increase the already significant number of patients with COVID-19. S. Sobyanin used the right, granted by the President to local self-government bodies, to make independent decisions.

The stipulated conditions concerned the right to relaxation of restrictive measures in the event of a favorable situation. But given how events are developing in Moscow, the mayor decided not to weaken, but to strengthen restrictions in the hope of stopping the spread of the disease.

What can be assumed

In many Russian regions, the phased introduction of measures developed by the government, doctors and Rospotrebnadzor has already begun to weaken and gradually exit the high alert mode. At the first stage, it is planned to open small catering establishments, in which the usable area is no more than 50 sq. m.

The main condition for work is the observance of the prescribed number of seats (no more than 10 people can be served at the same time). Supervisory authorities will check the social distancing required to prevent potential infection.

In Moscow, the quarantine has been extended until May 31, and what the further orders of the mayor will be is still unknown. It is safe to say that the date when small cafes and restaurants will open will come immediately after the cancellation of the strict isolation regime, the start of the first stage of gradual easing and getting out of an unfavorable situation. But the exact date has not yet been announced.

Summing up

1. There are a large number of people infected with coronavirus in the capital, so no exemptions have been introduced yet.
2. The term of the high alert regime is May 31.
3. The decision will be made taking into account the opinion of the epidemiologists.
4. As soon as the first stage of the gradual exit from quarantine begins, small catering establishments will open.
5. They will be allowed to work, but on condition that they meet the requirements put forward.