Pattaya bar owners are fretting over prospects of another coronavirus lockdown, saying a new shutdown would be a death knell to the city.
As a Covid-19 outbreak that began in a Samut Sakhon slowly creeps across the country, Thais and expats on both sides of the bar worried aloud Dec. 22 that authorities will again close down bars, restaurants, shopping malls and other businesses to prevent further spread.
Those fears were exacerbated by Tuesday’s cancellation of the Pattaya Countdown, but city tourism advisor Rattanachai Sutidechanai stressed that there are no other shutdown measures planned. He said bars and pubs can continue to operate as long as they enforce strict disease-control protocols.
Duangdao Mason, owner of the Number One June beer bar on Soi Yamoto, said she spent all her savings during the first shutdown. She has no idea what she’d do if ordered to close a second time.
