McDonald’s to Keep Dining Rooms Closed in Texas, Mississippi

McDonald’s to Keep Dining Rooms Closed in Texas, Mississippi
A sign is seen at a McDonald's restaurant in Queens, New York, on March 17, 2020. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)
Reuters
3/4/2021
Updated:
3/4/2021

McDonald’s Corp will keep dining rooms in its Texas and Mississippi restaurants closed, even as the two U.S. states lifted coronavirus curbs allowing businesses to reopen at full capacity.

The fast-food chain told Reuters on Thursday it was not planning to make any changes to its COVID-19 protocols right away.

The decline in the new number of daily COVID-19 cases and the rollout of vaccines prompted state and local governments to ease business restrictions in recent weeks, reopening movie theaters at limited capacity and resuming indoor dining in some parts of the country.

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves and Texas Governor Greg Abbott lifted their state’s mask order and removed all restrictions on businesses earlier this week.

Several quick-service restaurants have resorted to drive-thru, delivery, and pick-up services to limit contact and reduce the chances of its customers contracting the virus, even after lockdowns were lifted.

McDonald’s will look at state- and country-level data, assess case rates to make any decision on reopening dining rooms in the future, it confirmed.

General Motors, Toyota Motor, Target Corp., Macy’s Inc., and Kroger have also not made any changes to their mask policies.

By Nivedita Balu and Hilary Russ