Restaurant owners plead with public to wear masks to help them stay open
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ST. LOUIS, MO (KMOV ) — Tommy Andrew’s Dogtown restaurant Nomad was opened 21 days before the stay-at-home order went into effect and he had to shut the doors of his brand-new restaurant.
“It’s been tough, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever been through,” said Andrew.
He reopened for curbside but with rising COVID-19 case numbers and size limitations and social distancing, he worries about opening for dine-in service.
“At the most, if you want to social distance, you can have two people inside ordering at a time,” he explained.
Over in Maplewood, Eliza Coriell has crunched the numbers over and over and said they cannot figure out a way to safely reopen The Crow’s Nest, a bar and restaurant on Manchester.
“With our small patio, with our small space indoors, with our small kitchen, when we crunch the numbers being open could be more costly than being closed,” Coriell said. “Having to put up the cost to open and have to close up again because of more cases, that could put us out of business.”
Coriell said when people ask how they can help, the answer is simple.
“The best thing you can do for us, or any other small business, is simple. Wear a mask. Help us reopen, wear a mask. Get us off of unemployment, wear a mask. Save the economy, wear a mask. Keep us safe, wear a mask. Show us we are more than just the people who serve you,” she wrote on a Facebook post shared hundreds of times.
Tommy Andrew echoes the sentiment, posting to Facebook a plea for people to wear masks.
“WEAR YOUR MASK IN PUBLIC! STOP ACTING LIKE IT’S ABOUT YOU! HELP TO STOP THE SPREAD COVID! I really want to open Nomad back up…. Stop thinking ME and I. Start thinking WE and US.”
The owner of Salt + Smoke closed all restaurant locations after a staff member tested positive.
“We encourage everyone to take this seriously and please wear masks,” the BBQ restaurant’s owner posted on social media.
St. Louis City is hitting pause on the reopening plan as cases surge. On Monday, businesses were supposed to be able to move forward with 100% capacity but the city’s health department said they will remain in the current phase, allowing for 75% capacity. In St. Louis County, businesses are only allowed to have 50% capacity.
A mask mandate remains in effect in St. Louis City and County.
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