Coronavirus Updates: Tourism Workers Hit Hard As Virus Decimates Georgia Economy

In a city where tourism fuels a bustling nightlife, bartender Jacques Primo never imagined he’d find himself out of work.

But the seafood restaurant where Primo tended the bar on Savannah’s historic riverfront closed its doors and laid off its staff in late March, after coronavirus fears caused the city to cancel its profitable St. Patrick’s Day parade. Soon bars got shut down, restaurants were limited to takeout orders, and Americans began sheltering at home, as infections proliferated across the state.

On Thursday, Primo and a former co-worker waited in line for donations at a drive-thru food bank set up on the riverfront about a block from the restaurant where they had worked, idling among dozens of cars with open trunks. More than 130,000 restaurant and hotel workers across Georgia lost jobs in March, the state Department of Labor said. That’s hit especially hard in Savannah.