Bar operators and their employees are now bracing for the worst following the Government’s decision to order them closed, effective today, in an effort to restrict transmission of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Yesterday, several bar owners in the Corporate Area told the Jamaica Observer that they would struggle to survive the initial seven days which Prime Minister Andrew Holness indicated that they should be closed, and could go out of business if the closure is extended beyond that period.

Among the bar owners was Mike, who has operated a small corner bar in downtown Kingston for the past 12 years.

“I understand that the Government wants to prevent the virus from spreading but the Government needs to understand that they will be killing the small man like me,” Mike told the Observer.

“I pay my bartender $8,000 a week and $10,000 when I have a good week, but many weeks I have to take the money out of my pocket to pay her. When they close the bar, how will I pay her if she doesn’t work and there is no money coming in? How will I pay my rent?” lamented Mike as he said his rent was $25,000 each month.

Mike’s bartender, who asked that her name be withheld, was equally distraught.

“The eight or 10 grand (thousand dollars) mi get each week when mi work can’t support mi and mi three children, and remember is week on, week off, so is my tips and the commission on the box dem that keep mi going,” she said.

“Even if the boss give mi the week pay, that can’t mek mi put two and two together because without the tips, which sometimes more than mi pay, mi dead,” said the bartender as she urged Holness to reconsider.

At Napoleon Lounge on Red Hills Road in St Andrew, the bar operator Bonnitta also urged the Holness Administration to think again about its decision to close bars and nightclubs.

“They are trying to keep people safe from the virus but these people still take buses and taxis so those people interact with others,” said Bonnitta.

“I will certainly get pay, but what about the others? Most bartenders only get paid for the days they work for and they have kids to feed. I don’t know what they [the Government] are doing, and I don’t think they know what they are doing either.

“They should have prevented it from coming to the country from before. They should have taken the necessary precautions. They knew that it was out and it was all over the world so they should have done what they need to do before the visitors get here. Now that it is here and it is spreading like wildfire they are implementing a system that I don’t like,” declared Bonnitta.

At the neighbouring Winnaz Circle, the bartender, whose work week started on Monday, was worried about what her take-home pay would be like this week if the bar is closed today as scheduled.

“Honestly, mi need mi work and mi need mi pay, and if I’m at work for only two days it makes no sense where my salary is concerned. But on the issue about the virus, what he [Holness] is doing, is trying to stop it from breaking more than it already has, so on that level it is a good thing, but on my level I need my income.

“I don’t get paid if I don’t work, and it is not like I can go out there and catch a man to support me and my children,” said the bartender, who also asked not to be named.

Metres away, at Charmers Lounge, the bar owner Kammi, who was serving in the facility, insisted that the Observer team had their hands sanitised as they entered.

She said that was standard operation in the bar once the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Jamaica.

“Mi nuh think the bars need to lock down because what we can do is sanitise them as them come in. If mi nuh have 20 people mi mek everybody come in; if mi have 20 people mi close the door. Mi a pay rent so the bar have to work. If mi close down mi can’t buy food or nothing, so what mi a go do?” argued Kammi.

“Fanna”, who operates Double Six bar, also on Red Hills Road, said he could not afford to pay his bartenders if he has to close the popular drinking spot.

According to Fanna, while he would not disobey the order from the Government, he would be looking to the Administration for a financial bailout to survive this period.

The Holness Administration is one of several regional authorities to order the closure of bars and nightclubs in an effort to slowdown the spread of COVID-19.

Across the United States most bars and clubs have been ordered closed. The same is true for much of Europe and Canada, as the number of COVID-19 reported cases passed 196,000 yesterday with almost 8,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands more of suspected cases where no tests were administered.