Ahead of what’s usually a busy weekend, an East Lansing restaurant is choosing to temporarily close due to a rise in COVID-19 cases in the state.
As of Friday, Michigan's daily case counts and infection rates for the coronavirus are the worst in the country — that’s according to recent data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
Mike Krueger, the owner of Crunchy's Restaurant In East Lansing, said he’s closing for the weekend to prioritize the health and safety of the staff.
“It just kind of seems like a good time to just kind of give everybody a little bit of a breather and get healthy," he said.
Krueger said the business will pay for the staff's loss in expected wages.
“Some of them are obviously concerned about missing out on a little bit of money that they otherwise would have made," he said. "We're going to make sure to rectify that for them too, so that they're not going without making any money.”
Crunchy’s is one of at least three Mid-Michigan restaurants that will be closing for the weekend. Moriarty’s Pub and Stober's Bar in Lansing are also planning to close, citing COVID-19 safety concerns.
According to Krueger, by next week 95% of Crunchy’s staff will be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The restaurant is expected to reopen for regular hours on Monday.
