Omicron restrictions another 'dark moment' for small businesses

“There's been a few dark moments through the pandemic, and that one really felt like one of the darker, even though we've been dealing with this for two years.''

As the December holidays neared, the Old Triangle alehouses across the Maritimes were bustling with Christmas parties and diners revelling in the festive season.

But that energy vanished in recent days as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 raged across Canada and governments brought in new restrictions limiting the capacity at restaurants and enforcing physical distance between patrons.

“It was really, really, really depressing,'' said Brendan Doherty, one of the Old Triangle's owners, of the moment he heard his business would be subject to new rules.

“There's been a few dark moments through the pandemic, and that one really felt like one of the darker, even though we've been dealing with this for two years.''

Doherty, like most other small business owners, is lamenting how the “most wonderful time of the year'' has become a nightmare of mounting case counts, capacity restrictions or closures and worries many thought were long gone when COVID-19 cases receded over the summer and fall.

They now fear they'll have to shut down once more, lay off staff and perhaps even say goodbye to their businesses for good.