Columbia restaurant owners brace for health order extension

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Restaurant owners and managers are preparing for a much different holiday season after the city's health order was extended Friday.

That extension will go into effect on Wednesday and stay in place until Dec. 8 unless modified. The health order was last modified Nov. 2, and originally enacted June 23.

Rusty Walls, the general manager of The Heidelberg in Columbia said his business has already scaled back operations.

Walls said while he's still been able to serve smaller groups, the restaurant hasn't been able to host large events, or parties.

The manager continued, saying since the pandemic started he's had to keep up with adjustments to ensure he was abiding by current health codes.

Walls has been operating under an abundance of caution and said the best way to operate under health guidelines is to assume everyone has the virus.

This comes as cases in the city continue to rise. The Boone County Information Hub shows that the county has seen triple digit increases in new cases nine out of the last ten days.

The increase this month also saw a record in new daily cases with 222 Nov. 5. The county also added their 18th death the same day.