But there was no way to soften the blow for the city’s 250,000 or so restaurant workers. (The number comes from a 2019 study by the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School and the National Employment Law Project.) Nobody knows how long the city will wait before allowing restaurants to open fully again, but many places won’t be able to survive even a short closure. If you’d give money to keep the opera going, why not pay a little to keep the restaurant workers afloat? Those bills alone could crush restaurants in a matter of weeks, unless they have heaps of cash in reserve.

Source: New York Times March 16, 2020 18:11 UTC