Health Ministy empty seat at table in restaurant reopening talks

The Ministry of Health (Minsa) is “the great absentee” in the conversations of restaurant owners have had in the search for measures to resume services, said, Domingo De Obaldia, President of Panama’s  Restaurant Association.

According to De Obaldia, reports TVN,  all they wanted was for the Minsa to confirm what Decree 137 established, where the distance between table and table was one meter.  Interest in this information would help them to calculate or decide whether to wait for the reopening or close

He reiterated that the “delivery” system is a palliative, it helps with something, but it does not make a business work.

De Obaldia said  they have met with members and non-members and all hope that the

Minsa will clarify this measure in particular, because in terms of health they know “quite a lot” and are constantly inspected by the entity 

In  five months since  the first cases of COVID-19 in Panama and the closure of  restaurants, many have closed forever

He added that nationwide there is talk of a thousand companies that may have closed due to the COVID-19 crisis.