BALTIMORE — Baltimore area restaurants hit hard during the height of the pandemic are now once again feeling the impact of the virus as cases continue to surge across the state.
In the city's Hampden neighborhood, Golden West Cafe, The Bluebird Cocktail Room and Dylan’s Oyster Cellar decided to temporarily close because of positive cases among staff.
Dylan’s Oyster Cellar posted to Facebook, saying it will be carryout only due to rising COVID-19 cases.
In the post, the restaurant said, “we hope to re-open in January with limited dine-in capacity and carry-out. We have faith that this set back will be a temporary one.”
Golden West Cafe and The Bluebird Cocktail Room plan to reopen after Christmas.
Restaurants in other areas throughout the city have been forced to make changes as well from temporarily closing to switching to carryout only because of the virus.
“It’s sad you know because you think of their families and what they have and now they don’t have a place to work right now until the quarantine is over,” said Richard Kingsley with Frazier’s On The Avenue, which is also in Hampden.
He said safety has always been the top priority throughout the pandemic and it’s been no different during the current surge of virus cases.
“We try to spray down everything [and] make sure people wear their mask as much as possible,” he said.
However, he said despite the precautions, it does make worry him Frazier’s On The Avenue could close temporarily as well because of an outbreak at the restaurant.
“And that scares me because I don’t want to have to deal with what we had to deal with last time,” he said.
Kingsley also said he wouldn't be surprised if the city reimposed restrictions on restaurants to slow the spread of the virus.
