We now continue our look at the COVID pandemic five years after it started, hearing from Americans with a range of opinions on that time and the government's response.

Tonight, a reflection from someone who spent much of his life working at his family's restaurant, only to have to shut it down when COVID hit.

My name is Michael Frant Antonio.

I was one of the managers of our family owned Sunset Restaurant in Glenburn, Maryland.

Our family bought the business back in 1960.

I started working there in 1989, and I was there for 32 years.

Sunset Restaurant was a family-style restaurant that anyone can bring their folks in, young, old.

We had heard all this stuff going on in the news about the COVID stuff.

And then the day before St. Patrick's Day, we were told, shut it down.

90% of our employees, we had to lay off.

And after that, we had to rewrite the wheel on doing carryouts and food.

After we opened back up, we were at 50%. We were losing $10,000 a month.

So we brought the accountants in,

and the accountant sat down with us and said,

guys, I'd close it up if I was you.

It was like someone just knocked me upside the head,

knowing that something that I had always had my heart and soul into,

all I known was the sunset all my life as a child growing up.

Everything was that building.

It was a lump in my throat.

I think things were locked down too much, too fast, too soon without research.

Now that I know what's going on, hindsight, Monday morning quarterback, it shows you that there's a lot of conspiracy going on with the governments.

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