Big Cities Re-Open Indoor Dining, But Only Now that Trump Is Out of Office
Mandel Ngan – AFP; Pete Marovich – Pool/ Getty ImagesDemocratic officials change their views on allowing indoor dining just as former President Donald Trump leaves office and President Joe Biden enters. (Mandel Ngan – AFP; Pete Marovich – Pool/ Getty Images)
In a change in policy that came at the same time as the change in presidents, indoor dining is now being allowed by several Democratic officials.
The decisions come despite President Joe Biden warning that the COVID-19 pandemic will “get worse before it gets better.”
Washington, D.C., allowed indoor dining again starting Friday, according to Fox Business.
In its reporting on the decision, The Washington Post noted that it came even though the city was in the so-called “red zone” of infections.
The Post reported that, in theory, red zone conditions are supposed to result in a ban on indoor dining.
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Many found the timing of the change significant, if not downright suspicious:
Baltimore is also allowing indoor dining with capacity limits on restaurants.
“We’re just hopeful that we can continue to keep them open and hopeful that our cases continue to go the way they have,” Democratic Mayor Brandon Scott told WBFF-TV.
In Michigan, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said that after returning from President Joe Biden’s inauguration, she decided the virus numbers were such that restaurants could reopen.
“The pause has worked. The efforts we have made together to protect our families, frontline workers and hospitals have dramatically reduced cases and we have saved lives,” Whitmer said, according to Fox Business.
The move brought a variety of reactions, according to WXMI-TV.
“As one of the only states with an indoor dining ban, the pause has had a devastating impact on this industry and its workforce, putting many workers on unemployment and small businesses on the edge of bankruptcy with an uncertain future,” Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rick Baker told the station.
Justin Winslow, president of the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association, called the change “good, if overdue news.”
Scott Ellis, executive director of the Michigan Licensed Beverage Association, said Trump-era lockdowns imposed by Whitmer have already had an impact.
“At the end of the day, roughly 5 percent of bars and restaurants in the state have already closed for good. Overbearing restrictions like these will keep places closed because they’ll lose less money being closed than by being open at 25 percent,” Ellis said.
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