ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Restaurants in St. Louis County will be able to resume indoor dining, with restrictions Monday.
St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page made the announcement Wednesday morning.
“The Department of Public Health has been working closely with the core group of restaurant owners on new safety protocols for indoor dining,” said Page.
Restaurants can resume indoor dining with 25% of fire code capacity, or the total number of diners sitting at tables six feet apart, whichever number is lower. Restaurants must provide employees with proper personal protective equipment, including masks, along with instruction on how to avoid cross-contamination. Bars and restaurants will also be required to close at 10 p.m. Some bars will need to install physical barriers, like plastic or Plexiglas. And restaurants and bars must make provisions for contact tracing.
“Restaurants and bars will record the names and contact information for patrons to assist with contact tracing a case if that proves necessary," Page said.
At Carl's Drive-in on Manchester in Brentwood, manager Rick Macias said they have eight seats on one side and eight on the other. So 25% capacity will allow them to seat four. But he says long-live the carry-out window.
“It's good that restaurants are opening,” said Macias. “But now you got to have a ledger of people, contact tracing and all of that. Are they doing that at Target? Are they doing that at Wal-Mart? They're not.”
Tim Karagiannis, owner of Spiro's in Chesterfield and St. Charles, is part of the county restaurant advisory panel that worked with health officials to come up with the new protocols.
“I believe St. Louis County and restauranteurs on the panel were going for the same goal – to open up restaurants, safely. So, I think the goal was to get a lot of advice from the restauranteurs," Karagiannis said.
