Though Michigan restaurants can still operate through takeout and delivery, outdoor dining isn't much of an option for the winter months. | Unsplash
Though Michigan restaurants can still operate through takeout and delivery, outdoor dining isn't much of an option for the winter months. | Unsplash
As COVID-19 cases soared in November, Michigan banned indoor dining; despite falling numbers, there appears to be some hesitation to provide relief to the restaurant industry.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has hinted that the state could reopen indoor dining, but also sent mixed signals about the possibility. She did not offer restaurant owners a particular benchmark to reach in terms of COVID-19 case rates, and she has also offered concern over the new variant of the coronavirus found in the U.K., which has not yet reached Michigan.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy reported that the governor has three metrics upon which she bases her decisions: daily positive tests, portion of hospital beds used for COVID-19 patients and test positivity rates, areas in which the state has shown improvement since the restaurants have been closed for indoor dining since Nov. 18.
Michigan is currently one of only three states in the nation to ban indoor dining.
Robert Gordon, director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, has also failed to provide clarity after initially declaring the state’s intent to reopen restaurants Monday, Feb. 1.
“Our actions on Feb. 1 will depend on what happens with the pandemic between now and then,” Gordon said, according to the Mackinac Center.
Alerts Sign-up