The MRLA opposes the new requirement by the MDHHS that all restaurants and bars collect contact information from patrons to assist in contact tracing. | Adobe Stock
The MRLA opposes the new requirement by the MDHHS that all restaurants and bars collect contact information from patrons to assist in contact tracing. | Adobe Stock
The Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association (MRLA) claims the state’s new contact-tracing mandate for COVID-19 could put restaurants out of business.
“In relation to the size and scope of the industry, which serves millions of people every day and employs several hundred thousand more, this well-intended effort is more likely to result in job loss, foreclosure and fewer restaurants than it will prevent transmission,” MRLA President and CEO Justin Winslow said in a release on MRLA’s website.
The mandate is part of a revised and extended epidemic order issued by the MDHHS on Oct. 29 to contain the spread of the coronavirus, according to Michigan.gov. It requires bars and restaurants to gather the names and contact information of patrons in case contact tracing is needed in the future.
“We appreciate and respect the efforts of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to keep all Michiganders safe,” Winslow said in the MRLA release. “We maintain, however, that a restaurant-industry-specific contact-tracing mandate lacks merit given existing science and data.”
Winslow states that restaurant dining only represents 2% of coronavirus cases being investigated by MDHHS.
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