MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Manchester Chamber of Commerce President Simone Spence-Johnson says businesses in this south-central parish had to develop flexibility to stave off further economic fallout triggered by the novel coronavirus pandemic in 2021.

“The year was challenging straight across the board. I think everybody would express that, but what they have learnt is that they have to be flexible, so with all of the different times and curfew hours that we were given, we had to be able to adjust quickly,” Spence-Johnson told the Jamaica Observer recently.

Although traditional businesses were able to maintain their operations, Spence-Johnson said there is a concern among entrepreneurs about the predicted fourth wave of COVID-19 combined with the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus.

“I think people are scared that there might be another lockdown, because we see an uptick with the new variant. It is a little early, so maybe by the first two weeks in January we will see the effects of that. Right now, it is just a slight concern, it is not a worry yet,” she said.

Businesses that depend on night life and entertainment continue to be affected although the Government relaxed the curfew hours.

“Event planners, people who feed off that ecosystem… Persons who would rent chairs were affected, because we couldn’t have any events and the gathering limit is still at 10,” she said.

The current curfew hours — 10:00 pm to 5:00 am — became effective on December 10 and end on January 14. Spence-Johnson said businesses have benefited from the extended hours, especially the extension from 1:00 am to 5:00 am for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

“They appreciated and welcomed the flexibility or the relaxed curfew hours now, so it gives people more time to do more personal things,” she said, adding that security and delivery companies have benefited from longer working hours and exemptions.

“Security [personnel] who get paid per hour, it helped them, especially in this season. The delivery companies are doing well, even with the curfew hours, because they were granted the waiver to go and come as the service was needed,” she said.

“They are adjusting how they do business. A lot of things are not within our control, so we just have to work with it,” she added.