Restaurants could lose $225 billion in business, according to one industry groups report, and 5 to 7 million jobs could be eliminated in that sector over the next three months are Devin Dwyer has a look now at how some laid off restaurant workers, air coping and what restaurant owners are doing to try to keep their business is alive.

The cove it pandemic has turned America's restaurant hot spots into ghost towns.

Once packed French bistros, Italian trattorias and Spanish tapas bars now empty in the nation's capital in many major U.

S cities, I am like wondering what I'm gonna do for, like, money and how I'm going to support myself in the future.

Um, coming weeks, 20 year old Sharna Rayford was a server at Barcelona restaurant in D.

C before losing her job this week over Corona virus.

They're telling us the file for unemployment and hopefully when everything is over, the gladly hire us back.

But they want us to be secure and like funding and like financial stuff.

So that's why they're really pushing the unemployment.

She's now joining what could be millions of Americans applying for unemployment benefits.

I applied for unemployment, and Max Reiss was also laid off.

This week is a barista at Compass Coffee.

I've never been laid off before.

I was incredibly shocked.

Reese says the stimulus checks for $1200 per person in $2400 per couple that Congress is considering will help cover his rent but worries where he'll find his next job.

It's something which is nice, but yeah, past that.

I mean, I don't I don't see it really being something that's gonna help us through this entire situation.

What's your biggest financial worry right now?

Is it rent?

Is it food?

Is it health insurance?

Is it?

Where would you say you're out on that so you don't have any health insurance right now, right?

I don't Some restaurant owners air trying to soften the blow.

Rose Private, who owns two highly acclaimed restaurants in D.

C, is extending health benefits for around 50 of her furloughed employees.

When you start a new business, you think of all the terrible things that could could ruin you, and this is not one that I thought of.

Global Pandemic was not on my list of worst case scenarios, but we have to let her entire front of house staff go.

So that means servers, bartenders, food runners and bar backs.

And they were very, very difficult calls to make.

Now, privates kitchens, like thousands of other restaurants, are for the first time attempting takeout service to keep it least some employees on the job.

Hopefully, if we can keep this going, we'll be able to keep our kitchen staff working with minimal layoffs.

So how does how does that actually work?

How does the sit down, Ah, high end restaurant like yours actually convert to take out What did you have to do is you see, you have to buy a lot of to go containers that you didn't have before.

And since we have all this room upstairs here now we're just going to fill it with boxes.

As you can see from downstairs, we've been like piecing together sort of an assembly line now to make it as efficient as possible.

But simultaneously we have to figure out a creative way to not bring too many people here at the same time are you finding people actually wanna have that restaurant style high end, menial at their home?

And during this time, the neighborhood, like we've had more.

So many people just say like we're buying this to support you.

We know what you're going through.

It means so, so so much.

But many restaurants have had to close their doors entirely.

The owners of Little Sesame, a lunchtime favorite in the D.

C business district shut down this month, are you?

They're now trying to pay it forward by giving out free meals to the community.

Looks like we've got some couscous, chicken and collard flowers to turning is all of the last ingredient that we have ways.

So these were a good suit, usually using your products.

These are actually things that are on our menu.

Edgar Morales, a Guatemalan immigrant and father of three, lost his job this week because of the pandemic.

First of all, uh, rent is coming, so we'll see what we can do.

You know himself?

That problem, you know, smart, very many tough.

Do you have much savings stored up?

Not really.

For now, many restaurant workers air trying to remain optimistic as their employers.

Those restaurant tours do all they can to stave off shutting their doors for good.

If this drags on, the White House is saying, possibly July and August are you?

Is there sort of a worst case scenario for you, where you have to fold?

The smaller the business is definitely the harder the hit.

And we're still piecing it together as we go to see what we're gonna be able to do, how scrappy we can get, how many other inventive ideas we can come up with.

But it's terrifying to think that we wouldn't be able to open until after summer.

Do you have such a positive attitude?

A little of this?

It's just really uplifting to me.

Oh, people were panicked.

Things are going to move for.

People are still being born every day, like there's new things being created.

There's no solutions happening.

So bringing hope for solution to end this pandemic quickly get all of us back to those dinner table's ready to share a meal for ABC News Live.

I'm Devin Dwyer in Washington.

Our thanks to Devon restaurant advocates say one of the best ways that you can help your favorite local dining establishment stay Afloat is to participate in take out programs that they may be offering at this time and also to buy gift cards, which offer them an infusion of cash now, which you can claim later once they reopen.

Hi, everyone.

George Stephanopoulos here.

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