Administration calls for OSHA and CDC to provide clarity
Restaurants could soon receive more clarity on how and when they should operate thanks to a plan President Joe Biden issued Thursday to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Highlights of the plan from a restaurateur’s perspective include directing funds in the current Paycheck Protection Program to businesses that need it most, and requesting guidance from the Occupational Safety and Health administration, or OSHA, on how to protect workers during the pandemic, and from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, on the circumstances required for restaurants to operate their dining rooms and outdoor seating safely.
“The United States will immediately work to prioritize funds under the recent COVID relief package to the companies hardest hit by COVID-19 and in compliance with public health restrictions, ensuring that small businesses have the funds they need to operate safely,” according to the plan.
In terms of how restaurants can open safely, a summary of the plan said, “Social distancing is not a light switch. It is a dial. President Biden will direct the CDC to provide specific evidence-based guidance for how to turn the dial up or down relative to the level of risk and degree of viral spread in a community, including when to open or close certain businesses, bars, restaurants, and other spaces, when to open or close schools, and what steps they need to take to make classrooms and facilities safe; appropriate restrictions on size of gatherings; when to issue stay-at-home restrictions.”
For more details, read Biden issues coronavirus reponse plan including orders for national guidance on worker safety and restaurant operating regulations.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
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