Restrictions for the unvaccinated will harm shops ahead of the holidays

Representatives of retail stores and wholesalers say the government’s announcement on Tuesday about the need for rapid tests by unvaccinated citizens to enter stores is impractical and puts additional strain on the sector.

“Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the retail (non-food) sector has faced very serious economic and health problems by carefully following all health protocols,” said Stavros Kafunis, President of the Athens Trade Association.

“We also agreed that this sector has never served as the source of the spread of Covid-19, and no one questioned the safe environment in stores. Therefore, requiring employees to screen shoppers in stores is impractical and will, unfortunately, have a detrimental effect on the economic environment at a time when optimism is returning to the market, ”he said.

After the measures were announced, Giorgos Karanikas, President of the Confederation of Trade and Enterprise of Greece, expressed his concern after the measures were announced, who said the measures were taken when the market entered holiday season.

“For over a year and a half, the world of commerce has been doing everything it can to help fight the pandemic. He has been exposed to painful zero-recoil blockages for a long time, waiting to return to “a normal state that is constantly being delayed,” he said.

Karanikas warned that the need to show the result of a rapid test to enter stores will stop people from visiting outlets, while “using supermarkets and open markets for everyone, vaccinated or not, without any control and restrictions, creates a direct problem of unfair competition with retailers ”.

According to him, this measure “raises reasonable questions about the effectiveness of containing the pandemic.”

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