Charlottesville restaurants adapt to COVID surge ahead of New Year’s Eve

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - The restaurant industry already had it rough during the coronavirus pandemic. But with COVID-19 cases rising and a money-making holiday just days away, some tough decisions are being made.

A number of Charlottesville restaurants are responding to the surge of the omicron variant, while some are also preparing for New Year’s Eve celebrations.

“Indoor dining just feels wrong right now.” Those were the words shared on Brazos Tacos’ Facebook page Wednesday, Dec. 29, as Charlottesville struggles with rising COVID-19 cases. Now, the eatery is moving back to take-out only.

“We really want to keep our employees safe,” General Manager Travis Dotson said. “We’re asking them to come into work, and we’re going to do everything we can, depending on what’s going on, to keep them safe.

Dotson says the decision was made to be “better safe than sorry,” especially considering the holiday surge and difficulties accessing testing.

“We get through this if we all just pull together, do our best,” he said. “[It’s] not about someone making me do it, but just trying to help everyone else out.”

Meanwhile, down the road on West Main Street, the lights are off at Continental Divide. “Too much surging, too few rapid tests, too many exposures, too close to home,” reads a post from its Facebook page, which says the doors will be shut through January 3.

For Michael Rodi, the owner of Rapture on the Downtown Mall, this is yet another exhausting challenge.

“It seems every time we finally think, ‘OK, we’re finally over the hurdle,’ another one comes at us and we’ve got to rethink what we’re doing,” Rodi said.

At Rapture, masks are still required to enter the restaurant. On New Year’s Eve, it will host a significantly scaled-back celebration where patrons can enjoy live music and drinks. A maximum of 200 tickets are being sold - roughly half of regular capacity. Additionally, everyone has to either be fully vaccinated or show a negative test.

“I feel like 2022 may finally be the year,” Rodi said. “Of course, I talked to you probably about a year ago and I don’t think we thought we’d be having this conversation now.”

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