For the time being, Michigan restaurants are only allowed to accept takeout orders and provide outdoor dining. | stock photo
For the time being, Michigan restaurants are only allowed to accept takeout orders and provide outdoor dining. | stock photo
The Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association (MRLA) has announced that if the state keeps enforcing indoor dining restrictions on bars and restaurants, the COVID-19 super-spreaders will just go underground with their gatherings, according to Michigan Capitol Confidential.
Association leaders say people will meet to socialize and hold events in private homes instead of honoring the restrictions designed to keep them safe.
“We were hopeful that eight months into this pandemic that we could collectively recognize that there is an inherent and insatiable desire for humans to congregate, often over food,” MRLA President and CEO Justin Winslow said, according to the association's website. “Shutting down dine-in service removes the ability to accommodate that natural human desire in a highly regulated, sanitized, capacity-limited and appropriately spaced setting in a restaurant. Instead, it will drive that behavior to innumerable residential social gatherings over the holidays, which have already proven to be super-spreader environments.”
The MRLA presented data revealing that in the previous two weeks, only five COVID-19 probes involved restaurant customers, “despite serving millions of Michiganders each day."
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