Guidelines to reopen Ohio restaurants to be submitted by Wednesday

A task force created to come up with guidelines for reopening restaurants and bars in Ohio is just about ready to finalize the plan.
The group is made up of 30-40 people in the restaurant and healthcare industry and worked over the weekend to devise the strategy that Governor Mike DeWine will roll out soon.
"We recognize the fact that we only have one shot to open this up safely," said Jim Adams, the Canton City Health Commissioner. "It would be very difficult to go back and still have a viable business a second time around so, we want to do it right, we want to do it in a way that is safe and we want to do it in a way that helps folks get back to business yet still is safe for the public and the workers."
Adams couldn't give specifics but says the guidelines will be centered on four different areas.
1. Employee Health and Safety
2. Customer Health and Safety
3. Facilities
4. Response
"It's very similar to what is being proposed for retail and other commercial offices, the guidance you've already seen," Adams said.
That guidance requires employees to wear face coverings, stay home if sick, frequently wash hands and sanitize and maintain social distancing, just to name a few.
"The challenge with restaurants is they have to operationalize these general guidelines so that is going to be very specific to the type of facility and type of food facility that restaurant is operating," Adams said
Adams says capacity has been discussed, but did not think there will be a particular recommendation.
"The discussion is really centered around safety so we want to make sure we can assure those recommended six foot distance requirements and those types of things," he said.
Adams says the group didn't have to start from scratch. They were able to look at plans in nearby states like Illinois and Indiana. Adams said he personally looked at the restart Nashville model. He says the group understands how important this is.
"They have a very high desire to be able to restart this business in a very safe manner. Customer safety is above all the first thing all restaurants talked about."
The recommendations will be finalized on Tuesday and then presented to the Governor by Wednesday.
As for a date on when the reopening may begin? Adams says they were not told to come up with that, only the guidelines. He says the Governor's office will determine when restaurants can begin to reopen.