by Jack Morgan

While there are no lockdown restrictions in place, many local businesses have been forced to close or operate on reduced hours as COVID-19 infections balloon.

Many in the workforce have been forced to stay home and isolate as they contract the virus or become close contacts.

It comes after Baw Baw Shire recorded its highest ever increase in COVID-19 case numbers on Friday, when the Health Department reported 190 new cases. As of yesterday, Baw Baw had a total of 695 active cases.

Drouin Family Hotel is operating on reduced hours due to several staff members in isolation.

“We’re only operating during the day, we can’t operate at night at the moment,” Drouin Family Hotel owner Simon Appleby said.

The business owner said everyone did the best they could to stay open, but with senior staff and managers in isolation, he had to make the call to close at night.

“I’m gutted. If I was ok to work, I would stay open as long as I could and do the days into the night…but I just can’t throw that onto my staff who work 14 hours a day, seven days a week,” Mr Appleby said.

About a third of the business’ 30-strong workforce are isolating and unable to work, which has had a significant impact on revenue. Night service makes up 60 to 70 per cent of the restaurant’s income. 

As staff leave isolation, it’s hoped the business will resume normal operating hours today after almost two weeks with reduced hours.

But Mr Appleby has noticed another issue. Less customers through the doors. 

“I do notice that there are a lot of people who aren’t going out at the moment, they’re playing it really safe,” he said.

The Railway Hotel, Warragul also has reduced operating hours due to a staff shortage.

Railway Hotel chief operating officer Linda Fowler said it’s increasingly difficult to recruit staff in the hospitality industry.

“Because they feel like it’s an unstable environment…they’ve had decreased hours to work due to decreased operating hours,” she said.

Ms Fowler added that hospitality staff currently have the workload of a larger workforce.

Many other West Gippsland businesses, particularly in the hospitality industry, have used social media to notify customers of their closures due to staff shortages.

In supermarkets, staff absences across the food processing industry are leaving shelves bare or depleted. Meat and toilet paper aisles were affected in major supermarkets last week, causing some customers to shop elsewhere.

Baw Baw Food Hub staff say they have seen an increase in customers shopping for meat at their Warragul store.

“I have seen a few people today and yesterday that just came and bought meat, so I think (customers)] are looking for other places,” Food Hub retail manager Natalie Parcell said.

Ms Parcell said there was no risk to their supply chain at this stage and is encouraging people to shop locally.

“We have direct contact with most of our suppliers, and we can phone them up when we ran out of meat earlier on and she brought some more down.

“It’s important to shop local so the farmers survive,” she said.