ST. LOUIS — Restaurants and bars across the country have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
On May 18, restaurants in the St. Louis area were allowed to reopen again with restrictions.
Several St. Louis area restaurants have had to close again, citing COVID-19.
On June 26, three downtown St. Louis restaurants temporarily closed due to COVID-19. Wheelhouse, The Midwestern and Start Bar are closed until further notice, the operator of the bars announced.
"We can’t ensure the safety of our staff and customers right now which means we can’t succeed right now. We can’t enjoyably operate in the current environment," an Instagram post by Wheelhouse said.
According to an article from St. Louis Magazine, Stephen Savage, who is co-owner of the three bars, said that an employee died in a car accident last week and he said the bar learned a customer tested positive for the virus and on June 26, he learned two employees tested positive for the virus.
This information, however, was not included in the statement on any of the bars’ social media pages as of June 30. The comments on all three bars’ Instagram accounts have been turned off for the post with the statement about the temporary closure.
A reopening date for the three downtown bars has not been announced.
Herbie’s in Clayton closed its doors on June 27 and will remain closed after a customer tested positive for the virus. According to the St. Louis Business Journal, the customer was at the restaurant on June 26 from 7 to 9 p.m. The restaurant implemented emergency procedures and brought in a specialized cleaning crew to deep clean and sanitize the entire space, officials said. Herbie's also is requiring all its employees to get tested for the coronavirus before they can return to work.
On June 29, The Malt Shop in Fenton announced it was closing temporarily after an employee tested positive for the virus. The shop said the employee didn’t work over the weekend and had not had contact with customers in several days. It also said no other employees have tested positive.
The Malt Shop said it’ll close for two weeks for customer and employee safety as well as deep cleaning of the shop.
Ice & Fuel Company in Kirkwood closed for one day on June 18 after a customer tested positive for the virus. It is back open as of June 30.
Several restaurants have closed permanently since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic back in March.
