Ohio looks to ease access to vaccine
Dining locations in southwest Ohio have had to be creative just to survive. Mass site in Cleveland will try a walk-up, no appointment option.
Twelve months ago, at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, Ohio’s dining industry was booming with more than 23,000 locations and many of them had lengthy waiting lists, especially on weekends.
Then COVID-19 hit hard in March 2020.
Gov. Mike DeWine closed dine-in service in restaurants at the height of the pandemic, then issued earlier last-call times and statewide curfews that limited how long patrons could stay and spend money. Restaurants also deal with reduced seating capacities due to social distancing and customers are required to wear masks when they’re not eating or drinking.
In the last year, about 4,600 Ohio restaurants, or 20%, have permanently or temporarily closed, according to the Ohio Restaurant Association.
“This has been an incredibly difficult time for our industry and our members, as well as Ohio’s entire restaurant, food service and hospitality industry,” said Homa
Moheimani, a spokeswoman for the association. “There is a long road ahead for the industry.”
She said the Paycheck Protection Program, Economic Disaster Loads (EIDL) and Employee Retention Tax Credits (ERTC) hopefully will help restaurants owners “turn the corner toward recovery” during and after the pandemic.
Restaurant and bar owners wonder if business will ever return to “normal.”
To combat the loss of revenue due to COVID-19, some restaurants/bars have reduced their hours to save on overhead, cut staff, offered a limited menu and added daily specials.
Restaurant
Ohio is working to test a walk-up coronavirus clinic in which patients don’t need an appointment beforehand, Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday.
The state also released new numbers showing that 22% of Ohioans have received an initial dose of vaccine, and DeWine talked about the number of new cases continuing to decline.
While plans are still being finalized, the governor said the state is hoping to test a walk-up option for a controlled group at the mass vaccination site in Cleveland in the coming days.
Ohio started its vaccination rollout with scheduled appointments in an effort to avoid clinics where people waited in long lines for several hours.
DeWine noted that system has worked well once a person can get an appointment, but that the process can be frustrating
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for some.
“No matter how easy or hard it is (to get an appointment), it still poses a barrier to some people,” he said.
More than 2.5 million people in Ohio have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 1,484,761 people have finished it as of Thursday, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
Nearly 22% of Ohioans have received the first dose and 12.7% have completed the vaccine.
Starting today, people 40 and older and those with chronic kidney disease, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, obesity or cancer will be eligible to receive the vaccine in Ohio. Beginning March 29, all Ohioans 16 and older will be eligible.
The Pfizer vaccine is the only COVID vaccine authorized in the U.S. for people 16 and older. Both
Ohio
Jan Collins, owner of Putters Sports Grill in Liberty Twp. and Maineville, closed the business on Mondays.
“Either that or close the doors,” she said.
Collins, like many business owners, struggles to hire employees. She said because of higher unemployment benefits available during the pandemic, people are reluctant to work. She’s paying her cook staff up to $18 an hour and still has openings.
“Nobody can find employees,” she said.
Rick Pearce, president of the Chamber of Commerce serving Middletown, Monroe and Trenton, said no industry was truly prepared for the impact of COVID-19 and restaurants and bars were “hit extremely hard.”
He said many of them adjusted quickly after the Centers for Disease Control developed its health guidelines and some increased their carry-out business.
“They were forced to change and adapt quickly,” Pearce said. “The last year has taught all of us that we must be flexible and creative in our thought process. We don’t know where the next disruptor will come from but we must remain watchful.”
One thing that changed in the restaurant industry was menus. Restaurants either printed their menus on paper, offered their menus on a mobile app or constantly sanitized the menus as a way to reduce the potential spread of the coronavirus.
Fricker’s, which has 24 locations in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana including Middletown, West Chester and Mason, printed 1.3 million disposable menus in the last year, said Jim Manley, the restaurant’s marketing manager.
“That wasn’t in the budget,” he said.
The restaurant also has created a mobile app that allows customers to order online and have their food delivered by DoorDash. He said carry-out business has increased 30-40% during the pandemic.
Due to more meals being delivered, the restaurant has enjoyed a substantial increase in dessert orders, Manley said.
To make carry-out more like the dining in experience, the owners of Bandanas on Central Avenue in Middletown have purchased better paper products, said Monica Nenni, a co-owner.
“We wanted out carry-out to be the highest quality,” she said. “The same wonderful experience at home as the restaurant and that’s really, really hard to do. The moment the food leaves our restaurant, the less control we have over the quality of the product.”
Nenni, who also co-owners West Central Wine with Mel Kutzera, said they decided to open a restaurant — even during the pandemic — because customers were asking for more food and dining opportunities. The wine bar was too small for a kitchen, she said.
“In business, diversity is always the way to be successful,” she said.
There are signs of recovery, said Dan Bates, president of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce. He said some local restaurants, with reduced capacity, are reporting wait times or 15 minutes or more. He said the bar business has “come back with great gusto” since DeWine lifted the 10 p.m. curfew.
“I think the bars and restaurants here have all learned to pivot,” Bates said. “Flexibility is the key and flexibility has allowed them to think creatively and think out of the box and come up with different ways of doing business because they had to.”