McDonald's Reacts to the Latest Coronavirus Surge

McDonald's is hitting the brakes on its US reopening plans as the coronavirus surges across the country, the Wall Street Journal reports. The megachain issued a statement Wednesday saying restaurants won't be told to add dine-in service for the next three weeks. Takeout, delivery, and drive-thru service, however, can remain. "Our resiliency will be tested again," write Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald's USA, and Mark Salebra, head of the National Franchisee Leadership Alliance owners association. "COVID-19 cases are on the rise." This comes after partial dine-in service was allowed starting in May, with about 2,200 of America's 14,000 locations letting customers eat inside at limited capacity.

Now, those 2,200 restaurants can keep offering dine-in service if allowed by their jurisdiction, the letter says, but planned reopenings are on pause. The move comes as multiple states, including Texas and California, are reimposing lockdowns in an attempt to tamper the virus. "This surge shows nobody is exempt from this virus—even places that previously had very few cases," Erlinger and Salebra write. They also say McDonald's workers should keep wearing masks and following social distancing rules, per CBS News. The executives warned that McDonald's will "continue to monitor the situation and adjust as needed" if guidelines are ignored, CNBC notes. (More McDonald's stories.)