Restaurant, bar owners respond as Ohio bans eat-in dining

Tonight will be a takeout kind of night in Ohio — as will each night for the foreseeable future.

After the state's announcement Sunday that restaurants and bars must close to dine-in patrons, locally owned establishments planned their next steps, but had some yet-unanswered questions.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine ordered all bars and restaurants in the state to close at 9 p.m. Sunday as the state continues to increase its response to the new coronavirus outbreak and attempts to slow the spread of the disease. He said carryout and delivery would not be affected.

DeWine was not sure how long the closures would last.

"How long this order will be in effect we don’t know," he said. "It’ll be in effect as long as it needs to be."

DeWine noted the hardship these closures would have Ohio restaurants and bars.

"I have some understanding of what this order will do and I think of all the places I’ve eaten across the state of Ohio and the many small business owners that will hurt this greatly," DeWine said. "If we do not act… our health care system in the state of Ohio will not hold up."

THE LOCAL IMPACT

Though Cocca's Pizza won't be allowing dine-in or bar patrons during the closure, all its locations offer carryout, so the business is beefing up delivery drivers to meet the increasing demand the chain saw over the weekend, said owner Steve Cocca.

Cocca said he met promptly with company leadership following DeWine's Sunday address.

"I really did not expect this to happen," he told Mahoning Matters, though he added he feels it was the right move.

"We have to rely on these officials to make these decisions for us. I wouldn't expect them to tell me how to make a pizza, but I'm certainly going to listen to them. To reduce the spread of [the virus] is the most important thing right now," Cocca said.

Like elsewhere in the Mahoning Valley, the eatery is bolstering routine sanitization and allowing workers to stay home at the first sign of symptoms.

Though Cocca's won't need servers for dine-in customers, Cocca said he doesn't want them to be out of work either. The company is currently coming up with ways to reallocate non-delivery staff to deep cleaning, answering phones or assisting kitchen workers, he said.

Catherine Fetter, co-owner of the Boxcar Lounge and the B&O Banquet Hall on Mahoning Avenue, learned about the new measures while hosting a St. Patrick's Day brunch Sunday at the B&O.

"For the banquet hall, we still have a lot of questions we need to get answered," said Fetter.

People who have scheduled baby showers or other small celebrations at the B&O want to know if they can host events as planned if the gatherings are less than 100 people, in keeping with the governor's mandate last week.

But at the Boxcar Lounge, Fetter plans to expand the carry-out menu to include food that will travel well. Gift cards are available, and Fetter may offer delivery.

The Riser on Western Reserve Road in Boardman will start offering delivery.

"We really do have the best chef in the area," said owner Lisa Lorelli. "So this is an opportunity for people to try us, because we will be happy to deliver it or they can do carry out or we can do curbside."

Jack Kravitz, owner of Kravitz Deli on Belmont Avenue, had adapted his plans for the deli's annual St. Patrick's Day celebration prior to the governor's announcement Sunday.

Now dubbed "Reuben Rescue," the event will ditch the food truck idea that Kravitz planned for last week and offer a set menu for carry-out only.

"We are set up for carry-out. That's our saving grace on this," said Kravitz.

Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown's office again called for residents to "stay in if you can" and continue practicing social and spacial distancing to curtail the virus' spread.

"Please continue supporting our local restaurants by ordering takeout and delivery," reads a Sunday afternoon release from the mayor.

RELIEF ORDERED UP

Lt. Governor Jon Husted outlined a number of economic mitigation efforts to blunt the effect on business owners and workers, including an executive order to provide unemployment benefits for impacted Ohioans. These benefit provisions will include those who are self-quarantining as well as those whose employers may be temporarily closing or decreasing business.

Husted said the state is accepting returns on unopened, high-proof liquor products purchased within the past 30 days from wholesale accounts as a way to provide economic assistance to bar and restaurant owners whose businesses will be impacted by cancellations of events such as St. Patrick's Day and the NCAA tournaments.

“We know that what we’re all going through together will have a tremendous economic impact on businesses and the people who work there,” Husted said.

Mayor Brown's office urged small businesses to visit the U.S. Small Business Administration at SBA.gov to learn more.

DeWine appealed to Ohioans to consider the seriousness of the epidemic, making comparisons to the differences in the varying fortunes of American cities that took aggressive measure during the 1918 flu epidemic and those that did not.

"I don’t know how long it is going to take, but we will get through this. We are dealing with life and death. For us to not take these actions today will cost lives. People will die if we do not make these decisions," he said.

SOCIAL SHUTDOWN

Dr. Amy Acton, director of health for the state health department, is the official who will sign the bar/restaurant order. She emphasized her belief that it was necessary to protect the ability of the healthcare system to handle what officials believe will be burgeoning infections based on spread that is already occurring.

"Whether you believe me or you believe the national experts, this will all become so clear to us day by day. This is a time for us all to pull together," she said.

DeWine has been acting relatively aggressively since last week to take actions in hopes of stopping, and now slowing, the coronavirus, or COVID-19, pandemic.

DeWine announced last week that schools across the state would close after Monday for at least three weeks, and also said Sunday morning on CNN that he "would not be surprised" if he decided to close schools through the rest of the school year. He also said he may order daycare centers shuttered, and has banned gatherings of over 100 people across the state.

That original ban did not explicitly address gatherings of big groups such as those that occur in restaurants, bars and stores, and excluded gatherings at religious institutions and for voting in the primary election, which is scheduled for Tuesday. But officials have been encouraging residents to stay home in order to slow the spread of the virus.

Many people in the Mahoning Valley did not seem to be doing so over the weekend, with many bars and restaurants appearing to be busy with patrons, although not packed.

Boardman Township police Chief Todd Werth noted restaurant traffic didn't appear abnormally high over the weekend.

"Everything I've seen so far — everybody's been cooperative, all our partners and the public," he said.

DeWine during his Sunday address did not specify how a restaurant ban would be enforced, and Werth said local law enforcement hasn't received any such directives.

Remarking earlier this week about the state's ban on mass gatherings, DeWine suggested violators could be reported to the Ohio Attorney General's office, which may consider legal action.

Werth added Boardman police today plan to announce procedural changes for responding to complaint calls, in order to limit person-to-person contact.

"Everybody at all levels is trying to figure this out," he said.

Amid low testing rates, officials in Ohio had confirmed positive tests in 37 people — seven of whom were hospitalized — and said another 361 people in the state have tested negative for the new coronavirus. Two of the positive tests were in Trumbull County residents who had no known contacts with infected people, leading health officials to believe the virus has already spread widely.

This story was originally published March 15, 2020 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Restaurant, bar owners respond as Ohio bans eat-in dining."