On the one hand, the small business owners look with their eyes on their livelihoods disappear and on the other the patients are at risk and the elderly are anxious for their lives as the number of patients increases

• Corona closure in Tel Aviv // Photo: Liron Moldovan

Don't leave us behind

The spread of the Corona virus has worsened over the past week. Open businesses and the economy, a significant and important step for many and for me, because people need a living, and if the Corona does not kill them, their economic situation may do so.

However, when we return the economy to action it is important to remember us, the people at risk. As someone with a very high risk of chronic illness, I can't afford to go to restaurants or go out to work in confined spaces.

The economy must not be paralyzed. Like others, I also feel that you need to vent and be outside. It's important to stay alive and not stop everything. However, it is important to look after ourselves and our environment. We are not in the routine, and even far from it. Even if it seems strange to us that the government changes every day guidelines, stricter days and easy days - we must not turn the danger into a joke.

I can't say the right thing is to close businesses or restaurants, every business is a lifeline for its owners and employees, but it's important to understand that a closed place where people sit close to each other and eat - is a place that has high infection potential, and it's important to be aware of that. Therefore, it is our duty to try to change the concept in which the business operates, for example, operating restaurants in the form of eating out tables or take-aways, stores will market the products internally and only reach the collection of products and other similar solutions. The usual shopping experience is impossible to replace. Still, we need to adjust ourselves to the situation so we don't back down.

Business owners have a responsibility to keep them real and responsible. You can't leave everything as it was and then get angry about why there are fines and why they close the business.

The responsibility is collective. We are all in the same boat.

Orit Soup Etinger | Suffering from chronic illness

The closure will kill us: let work and make a living

In February, we opened a new and kosher branch at Rehovot Science Park. It wasn't a month from the opening - and by mid-March we had to close because of the Corona.

As soon as we closed the restaurant, and with it the other branches of course, the flow stopped completely. Banks in Israel do not grant loans to open restaurants, so the investment is partly based on vendor credit. It's crooked and wrong but that's the case.

So when we closed, vendor checks came back in dozens. It's awful to get up every morning and see checks coming back without cover. Not even one check came back to the Corona.

At least at the moment, according to the Bank of Israel's directives, this does not limit the accounts, but the phone has been heated by dozens of important and important suppliers who wanted their money, and rightly so. When we returned to work we reduced wages for all network workers by 10 percent for six months and increased the delivery menu.

In early May, the government and the director general of the tax authority announced grants for business and that the money, unchecked, would arrive within four days (the US model).

We built on that money to pay back to suppliers and it's just a shame and disgrace. We pay NIS 11 million each year on taxes and employment, but we did not receive the NIS 370,000 promised.

I was told by the Tax Authority that the Treasury had not transferred any funds to them so it stuck. We can't seem to figure out why the restaurants remain closed. We have all the tools to keep staff and customers healthy - guests receive a glass of wine at the entrance and disinfect hands, measure heat and wear masks. The distance between the tables is two meters and the staff maintains a wonderful and safe experience. No adherence to us, only meat and wine. Let us go back to work, and the public back to fill the restaurants.

Lior Brand | Owners of the restaurant chain "meat only"