NYSRA Update: COVID-19 Outbreak

NYSRA Update: COVID-19 Outbreak | May 20, 2020

Good News

In March, Bourbon Street, One Station Plaza and Austin’s Ale House joined together and created “Food for the Fearless,” a fundraising initiative aimed towards supporting healthcare workers at hospitals in Queens, Manhattan and Long Island with quality, free meals. The initial goal of the campaign was to raise $50,000 (enough to feed 5,000 workers), but this goal has since been surpassed as the organization has pulled in more than $86,000 in donations. They are now well on their way to a new goal of $100,000. To learn more, visit http://www.foodforthefearless.org/

Federal

Below is a new survey released in conjunction with the National Restaurant Association Research Group to allow us to continue to collect important data together for our ongoing shared communications and advocacy activities regarding coronavirus. https://restaurant.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ebPem625adA3i8B
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released reopening guidelines for specific industries—including restaurants. The guidance includes how to scale-up operations, sanitation practices, social distancing procedures, health monitoring guidelines, and what to do if a staff member becomes sick or an outbreak of the virus occurs in the area. The CDC emphasizes that state and local rules should be followed. As we await state guidelines to reopen, these guidelines might give you some ideas on how to plan. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/s0520-cdc-resources-open.html

State

NYSRA’s government affairs team held several meetings today and yesterday to encourage the State to consider
To allow outdoor dining to start in Phase 2;
To continue alcohol to go until all regions are out of Phase 4;
To choose six feet of social distancing rather than a percentage of occupancy and
To work with local governments to expand outside dining areas into new spaces.

Communications

Press