January 22, 2021 – Advocacy News
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) released the newest epidemic order affecting businesses and certain gatherings today which will go into effect February 1st. The order will allow for indoor dining at restaurants with certain requirements; concessions at casinos, movie theaters and stadiums; personal services requiring mask removal; and non-residential gatherings of up to 10 people from two households. The new order will last three weeks, until Sunday, Feb. 21.
Restaurant and Bar Restrictions
The biggest and probably most anticipated change in the newest order, is on the reopening of restaurants and bars. Restaurants and bars will be allowed to reopen at 25% capacity with up to 100 people. Tables must be six feet apart with no more than six people per table. Outdoor tents with four sides are permitted under these same rules. Bars and restaurants must close by 10 p.m. Additionally, contact information must be collected from diners for contact tracing purposes.
Apart of the reopening of restaurants and bars is the creation of the voluntary “MI COVID-19 Safer Dining” program which will allow foodservice establishments to become certified by having their ventilation system inspected and submitting their inspection report to the state indicating they are optimizing airflow. Once certified, businesses will be featured on the Michigan.gov/COVIDSaferDining website and receive a copy of their certification to post at their establishment to alert diners of their participation. Funding is proposed for foodservice establishments to participate as part of the $10 million included in the recent supplemental budget request for restaurant supports administered by the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Two webinars will be hosted on Monday, Jan. 25 to provide additional information about the Safer Dining certification program – one at noon for HVAC contractors interested in conducting inspections and one at 3 p.m. for foodservice establishments interested in becoming certified. More information will be available at Michigan.gov/COVIDSaferDining.
Gathering Restrictions
Indoor residential and non-residential gatherings are limited to 10 people and two households. MDHHS continues to urge families to avoid indoor gatherings or to pick a single other household to interact with consistent with guidance already released by the department.
The epidemic order continues to temporarily pause indoor contact sports and other venues and activities where participants have close physical contact and are not consistently masked, like water parks. However, as of Jan. 22, stadiums can allow up to 500 people at venues that seat over 10,000 people and stadiums that seat less than 10,000 are allowed to be at 20% capacity, up to 250 people. This will allow for additional attendance at high school football finals being hosted this weekend.
As before, employees who work in jobs that cannot be performed from home can continue to go to work, while employees who can work from home should continue to do so.
For more information on the newest order, please contact Dan Papineau at dpapineau@michamber.com
