GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — COVID-19 case growth in Northeast Wisconsin is among the highest in the nation, and it’s causing some businesses to scale back their operations.
Some bars and restaurants in Northeast Wisconsin are voluntarily closing their dining rooms and heading to takeout only amid high case numbers.
One of the businesses deciding to close up and keep their heads down through surge is Aunt Ethel’s Adult Arcade in De Pere, a bar and arcade establishment with plenty of skee-ball and vintage game machines. Casey Jelinski co-owns the business with her husband and says they tried everything to keep things running.
“We had done as much as we could to clean and sanitize,” Jelinski told WTAQ on Monday. “We put up the plexiglass, we were trying to be careful with all of our employees because some of our employees have kids.”
It was a trip out of state that prompted a change in direction.
“I was actually traveling in Arizona and I started to see Wisconsin hit the national news,” Jelinski recalled. “We just said, ‘we have to pull the plug on this’.”
Pull the plug they did. That happened on September 25th. It certainly wasn’t an easy business decision. Jelinski says rent and bills still have to be paid with no revenue coming through the door for at least another week and a half. It’s the second time shutting down this year for Aunt Ethel’s. They voluntarily shut down back in March, even before Governor Tony Evers’ ‘Safer at Home’ order forced indoor bars to close down.
“We love our business, we love our regulars, but a couple of weeks away might help curb the spread,” said Jelinski. “We’re watching the percent positive rate, we’re watching the number of hospital beds that are full. Our goal [is to reopen] October 14th, but we really have to see what happens in the next week.”
As of Monday, 104 patients in Brown County are hospitalized with COVID-19, shattering records from the first wave of the virus back in April. The county’s burden rate, calculated as the number of positive cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days, is 76.79. That’s one of the highest in the state.
Other local restaurants and bars taking voluntary pandemic measures include the Redwood Inn, a popular supper club on the east side with a highly-rated fish fry which has temporarily closed up entirely. Downtown Green Bay’s landmark Al’s Hamburger Shop has closed its dining room to the public and scaled back operating hours, but they’re still offering takeout. WhiteDog BlackCat, a cafe and brunch spot on the near west side, has ended dinner service for the time being.
The Brown County Health Department along with a group of health departments and cities in the Fox Valley have issued health emergency alerts recommending bars and restaurants scale back operations and close indoor dining.
