NYC restaurant owner blasts coronavirus shutdown: Hardworking people are being 'punished'
Cuomo recently rolled out new restrictions aimed at keeping increasing infection rates at bay
Hardworking people are being "punished," a New York City restaurant owner said on Tuesday, blasting the city's coronavirus shutdown.
“It’s been a struggle, a real struggle and it would be good to get out of this temporary shutdown again, that’s for sure,” Jim Buckley, the owner of Buckley’s Restaurant & Catering in Brooklyn, told FOX Business’ “Cavuto Coast to Coast.”
New York City Governor Andrew Cuomo recently rolled out new restrictions aimed at keeping increasing infection rates at bay.
The Cluster Action Initiative is broken down by three colors on a map: Red is considered the cluster center. Orange is the surrounding area and yellow is the precautionary area.
Under the rules, Buckley's business fell into the 'red zone' and was forced to shut down even after following "all of the safety protocols that the mayor and governor had put in place," he said.
"In my opinion, we are being punished by falling into that red zone on a map," he said.
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Even with dinner and take-out service, Buckley said, more federal help is needed in order to stay afloat.
“We were able to take advantage of the Payroll Protection Plan. We also got a disaster loan ... but, it is long gone and now we are stuck waiting for them to approve another stimulus, and, who suffers, hardworking people like us.”
New York was hit particularly hard with the virus during the early spring – there are more than 19,260 confirmed deaths.