A group of restaurant and hotel owners are circulating a petition against what they describe as nonsensical forced closings ahead of a suit they plan to bring against the Czech government. They were forced to close last Friday, just a week after the second lockdown of 2020 was lifted, because of worsening infection rates. The evidence about risks of contracting Covid-19 in restaurants is mixed, but many establishments refused to respect the mandated closing times of 11:00 pm. But they argue that having been decimated by the previous two lockdowns, they need to make up lost revenues by doing as much business as possible in the busy holiday season. “Our common goal is to stop this behavior, the cancellation of all government restrictions and the ending of the state of emergency,” said the owner of the Seberak restaurant Jakub Olbert. He said that while he understood the severity of the health risks, he didn’t feel the government had comprehended how bad the losses are for business owners in the Czech Republic.
