Gloucester County Surveys Restaurants Amid COVID Restrictions
GLOUCESTER COUNTY, NJ — Gloucester County officials are reaching out to local restaurants to get a sense of the state of the industry in the county with new restrictions in place amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“We want to support our restaurant community while we continue to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic,” Gloucester County Director Robert M. Damminger said. “The responses to this survey will allow the Department of Economic Development to assist our local restaurants with technical assistance.”
The information that is gathered in this survey, which officials said should take about 10 minutes to fill out, is completely anonymous. However, there is a question that allows restaurant owners to input contact information if their establishment would like to receive assistance from the Gloucester County Economic and Workforce Development staff.
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The information that is gathered in this survey is completely anonymous, officials said. However, there is a question that allows restaurant owners to input contact information if their establishment would like to receive assistance from the Gloucester County Economic and Workforce Development staff.
“The survey responses will help paint an accurate and compelling picture of the current state of affairs as we continue to advocate on behalf of our restaurant community,” Gloucester County Freeholder Heather Simmons said. “The food service industry is among the hardest hit during the pandemic, and we are working to provide targeted assistance.”
Click here to take the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GCRestaurantSurvey.
The news comes a week after Gov. Phil Murphy imposed a 10 p.m. indoor curfew at bars and restaurants and eliminating bar seating. Murphy also signed an order this past week allowing communities to establish a curfew as early as 8 p.m. Read more here: Gov. Murphy Clarifies Rules For NJ Indoor Dining, Bars, Barbers
On Monday, Murphy told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that New Jersey is reducing the limits on indoor gatherings from 25 to 10 people beginning Tuesday, and on outdoor gatherings from 500 to 150 people beginning Nov. 23. Read more here: Gov. Murphy: NJ To Lower Gathering Limits Amid Coronavirus Spikes
Coronavirus case numbers have been spiking in recent weeks. As of Monday, Gloucester County has conducted 85,399 total tests. Of these tests, 77.864 have come back negative. Seven cases have been moved out of the county. An additional 93 cases and two deaths were reported in Gloucester County on Monday.
Gloucester County’s total positive coronavirus case count is now 7,449 since the beginning of the pandemic. With the deaths of an 88-year-old Washington Township woman and an 89-year-old Deptford woman, 249 Gloucester County residents have now died after testing positive for the coronavirus.
Simmons added that since the beginning of the pandemic the county has helped local small business in all industries by providing technical assistance, three months of payments for county small business loan holders and access to grants and interest-free loans.
“We still have a long wait to go if we want to help our businesses survive,” Simmons said. “This survey is focused on the restaurant community, and we will reach out to other industry sectors as we continue to fight for every job.”
This article originally appeared on the West Deptford Patch
