LOCAL businesses have taken hit after hit since the start of the pandemic and again more recently with the impact of the Omicron variant spreading.

Many workers have either been forced into long testing queues and or into isolation for being a close contact with someone who is positive or have contracted the virus themselves, taking them out of the workforce.

Fringe Benefits is presently closed due to the owner contracting the virus and the Cally Hotel is closed due to staff exposure.

Woody’s Café has remained opened but employee Tayla Lowe, said that in the last couple of weeks, business has been really quiet.

“It seems people are scared to go out and we have noticed business has dropped right back,” Ms Lowe said.

The long wait to get a PCR test has impacted the workforce who have been forced into isolation whilst awaiting the result.

That has now changed and a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) which gives a result within 15 minutes is now adequate, however, due to the shortage of the test kits, that has forced people back into the PCR queue.

Pure Envy is also currently short staffed due to two staff being in isolation.

King’s Bakery owner Gary Hanks said staffing in general has been extremely challenging since the pandemic started, saying he has had difficulty attracting apprentices and retaining staff.

“On top of that, last week two staff were on leave for PCR testing, which was required at the time, but they had to wait the whole week for the results to come back, fortunately negative,” he said.

Wahid Fakhoury of Chris’ Kebabs said that business dropped off about 60 percent.

“It’s slowly coming back, but we’re still not back to where we were before the pandemic started,” Wahib said.

“So far we haven’t had any staff off due to the virus which is good.”

Under new pandemic orders coming into place at 11:59pm yesterday, workers in key sectors who are already required to be fully vaccinated must get their third dose before being permitted to work onsite.

This will apply to food distribution workers which includes manufacturing, warehousing and transport (freight/port) workers involved in food distribution.

Retail supermarket staff are not yet included in the mandate.

Other impacts to small businesses under the Pandemic Orders announced by health minister, Martin Foley this week include indoor dancefloors within hospitality, and entertainment venues must close.

Venues can still operate and there are no changes to the density settings currently in place.

Indoor dancefloors at weddings will be permitted, but wedding hosts and guests should still consider the risks of dancefloors and choose to locate them outdoors if possible.

The strong recommendations that people work from home if they are able and that patrons in hospitality and entertainment venues opt for seated service will continue.

It is recommended that people visiting these venues who can access Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) should use them before attending.