Coronavirus: McDonald’s, other restaurants closing dining rooms amid surging caseloads

As coronavirus cases continue to surge fueled by the highly transmissible delta variant, McDonald’s and other restaurants have or are considering temporarily closing their dining rooms.

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“We’re monitoring the impact of the Delta variant closely and recently convened together with our franchisees to underscore existing safety protocols, reinforce our people first approach and provide updates on the rise in cases in the country,” McDonald’s Corp said in a statement on Friday, Reuters reported.

Executives recommended restaurants consider closing dining rooms where cases exceed 250 per 100,000 people on a rolling three-week average, Reuters reported.

“We have a much deeper sense of what actions make a difference for the safety of our restaurant teams and crew,” McDonald’s USA President Joe Erlinger said in a Wednesday meeting, Reuters reported.

It is unclear how many locations would close their indoor seating. Some McDonald’s restaurants had recently closed their dining rooms because of staffing. Last month, North Carolina McDonald’s restaurants held a job fair to fill 9,000 open positions at 300 locations, CBS News reported. The company has increased wages to entice workers.

Chick-fil-A said some of its individually operated locations had closed dining rooms either because of staffing or rising coronavirus caseloads, CBS News reported.

About 40 KFC and Taco Bell locations in Alabama and Georgia had to reduce hours because they were short-staffed after employees became infected with the coronavirus, Reuters reported.

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