McDonald’s Is Pausing Dining Room Reopenings As COVID-19 Cases Spike Again
"Our resiliency will be tested again. COVID-19 cases are on the rise," Joe Erlinger, McDonald’s U.S. president, and Mark Salebra, head of the National Franchisee Leadership Alliance owners association, wrote in a letter first obtained by The Wall Street Journal and viewed by Delish.
Erlinger was, of course, talking about how a spike in cases relates to McDonald's—specifically, how it will affect the chain's reopening of its dining room.
McDonald's will be pausing its dining room reopenings for 21 days as COVID-19 cases rise in many parts of the country, according to the company's internal memo.
Restaurants that had previously opened dining rooms starting in May, will be allowed to remain open, provided they are permitted to do so by their state and local governments. "To be clear: owner/operators will make the final decision in these situations,"the memo states. As of publication, 2,200 of McDonald's 14,000 locations are open for dine-in service. Additionally, 99 percent of the McDonald's restaurants in the U.S. will remain open with drive-thru, delivery, and/or take out options.
The letter, which was sent out just ahead of the long July 4th weekend, also called for continued diligence in following the chain's safety guidelines, citing the spike in coronavirus cases in 32 states.
"This surge shows nobody is exempt from this virus—even places that previously had very few cases," the letter said. "Moving forward, we will continue to monitor the situation and adjust as needed to protect the safety of our employees and customers."
This news comes as many states and cities have rolled back some of the reopening plans as COVID-19 cases are on the rise in many parts of the U.S. This week alone, Arizona ordered bars to be closed for a month, Los Angeles called for restaurants to close their dining rooms for three weeks (which came after bars were ordered closed), and New York City announced it would be postponing plans to reopen restaurant dining rooms indefinitely.
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