AMMAN — The Amman Chamber of Commerce on Saturday said that
recent reopening measures adopted by authorities were “impossible”.
President of the Amman Chamber of Commerce Khalil Haj Toufiq
said that some of the regulations surrounding the reopening of sectors have
been near impossible to satisfy.
اضافة اعلان
He told Jordan News that these regulations “were enforced
without consulting the private sector or asking them to take part in any
discussions with the
Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Labor.”
Toufiq added that the private sector should not be forced to
bear the brunt of the pandemic.
“The private sector is penalized for fear of a rise in
cases. They are assumed to be at fault but that is not true,” he said.
June first saw restrictions eased across both public and
private sectors, including gyms, restaurants, cafes, and nurseries. This step
towards gradual reopening requires that all business-owners, employees, and
customers be vaccinated for at least 21 days.
Toufiq believes that a 21-day wait after vaccination is an
unnecessarily harsh measure that should be abandoned. He added that there is no
need to expect customers to be
vaccinated if the employees and staff already
are.
“Almost every single sector that opened on June 1 has been
negatively impacted,” he said. “Many have complained and do not approve of the
current regulations.”
Many businesses have struggled to pay their bills for the
past 15 months — in some cases leading to bankruptcy and forcing closures
across sectors — and the stringent measures mandating a 21-day wait are posing
yet another financial challenge, according to owners.
“These establishments are not hotspots and have not been
responsible for any previous surge in cases,” said Toufiq. “They must be
treated accordingly.”
The president said that many businesses are running into
trouble with their customers, who attempt to bend the rules and insist upon
entering despite not being vaccinated. Some businesses initially opened on June
1, but proceeded to close because customers refused to present identification
or proof of vaccination, he explained.
He added that “cultural and academic centers, gyms, and
gaming centers are some of the most poorly affected establishments because they
attract a younger demographic that has yet to be vaccinated.”
Toufiq believes that by imposing such strict regulations,
the government seems to be telling businesses: “you can open on June 1, but we
are going to make it so hard that you won’t actually be able to open on June
1.”
Fares Harb, who runs Prime Cinemas, told Jordan News that
these protocols were completely unexpected.
“Nobody was ready for this,” he said. “We were expecting to
go back to work without any commitments or regulations.”
Harb explained that most of Prime’s employees are university
students who haven’t had the chance to get vaccinated, making it difficult to
abide by government regulations — not to mention the 21 days they will have to
wait once they are vaccinated.
Jehad Shhaltough, who owns a gaming center called The
Corner, confessed that “we are both open and closed at the same time.”
“I can’t stand there asking every single customer for their
ID,” he complained.
“On the first day, one customer refused to show me his ID.
He insisted that he was younger than 18 and therefore hasn’t been able to get
vaccinated, but he looked much older than 18.” He added that another customer
refused to show ID because she did not like how she looked in her picture.
“It might be for the best for us to close until this is all
over … so far it has been problem after problem.” He described the past week of
reopening as a “headache”.
Shhaltough told Jordan News that a man getting a haircut at
a barbershop nearby — where the barber and the customer interact in very close
proximity — was then refused entry into The Corner on account of the fact that
he was not vaccinated. “What kind of logic is that?” he said.
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