Following Gov. Ron DeSantis' announcement about partial reopenings in Florida, many restaurants on the First Coast are preparing to open their doors back up on Monday.
The food service industry has adapted to COVID-19 by doing things like offering to-go orders. Others have shut their doors completely, but on Monday, can reopen with some restrictions, such as only allowing customers at a 25 percent capacity.
Julianne Lilly owns Cousins Maine Lobster in Neptune Beach.
She has continued to serve customers through takeout orders with restrictions.
“We sanitize our restaurant after every customer, we practice social distancing and practicing good hygiene to keep everyone safe,” Lilly adds.
She is ready to open her doors to more customers on Monday.
“I feel like they should reopen, I think we’re ready to get back open and back to normalcy,” Lilly said.
In addition to restaurants, retail stores and malls allowed to open with the same capacity restrictions.
Mayor Lenny Curry’s measures for reopening Jacksonville fall in line with the state.
“The way [DeSantis] has chosen to move forward was based on the experts, there is an option to tailor moving forward,” Curry said Thursday.
He says businesses like gyms, movie theaters and nail salons will remain closed for now.
Curry says he will evaluate how the city responds to the first phase and see if more businesses can reopen.
Lilly says she’s lucky to keep her and her staff employed but she wants her friends in other industries to get back to work as soon as possible.
“People need to get back to work, there’s people with families that need to be fed and there’s no money coming in right now,” Lilly said.