By — Joey Hudson

Recently, the news of a possible vaccine emerged. Pfizer announced this week that they are currently close to completing a vaccine which has an over 90% effectiveness rate. With the news starting to surface about this vaccine, as well as the recent celebrations about the US Presidential Election in which Democratic nominee Joe Biden was projected to be the 46th President of the United States, cases are rising at an all time high in the United States. Based on research, indoor restaurants are also a leading source of COVID outbreaks. 

Restaurants, including other public gathering places such as gyms and religious buildings, are said to be a hotspot for COVID cases, with around 80% infections being the cause of someone getting the virus. What would this mean for restaurant owners and workers? With the drastic rising cases, restaurants around the United States could potentially go back strictly to pick up and remove the option of eating at the restaurant. Restaurants and other public areas could also face closure with the president-elect Joe Biden wanting to put an immediate stop to COVID as soon as he enters office. Biden has put together a COVID-19 response team with infectious-disease researchers and public-health advisors with the help of vice-president elect Kamala Harris. Biden has also declared that he would put forward the requirement to wear masks at all times while out in public. If cases continue to rise and Biden enters office January 20, restaurants are likely to experience a drop in income and customers, similar to when they were first impacted by the virus during March.