COVID's next victim: Craft beer

The COVID-19 pandemic has put an extreme amount of pressure on small businesses, especially bars and restaurants. In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine imposed a shutdown on in-house dining in March, and floated the idea of a second shutdown earlier in November. However, on November 17, DeWine put the rumor to rest, much to the relief of small business owners. At least for now, there's no total shutdown on bars and restaurants — just a three-week-long overnight curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. On November 13, just four days before DeWine's press conference, the Ohio Craft Brewers Association released a statement pleading the governor not to shut bars down. The statement came from executive director Mary MacDonald, who's been running the nonprofit guild for more than seven years. The group represents brewpubs, breweries and taprooms, not traditional bars. MacDonald stressed that the 359 craft breweries in Ohio were taking "extraordinary steps" to ensure the safety of their patrons and staff. She said craft breweries often went above and beyond the health department's guidance, adopting UV disinfection and air filtration techniques. Additionally, the Columbus Department of Health reported that 95% of bars and restaurants were following guidelines set by the state. "Make no mistake," MacDonald wrote. "A second shutdown would almost certainly devastate our industry and force many small businesses to close their doors for good." Eric Kuebler, co-owner of the Laird Arcade Brewery in Tiffin, used the same word: devastate. "Another shutdown would be devastatingly detrimental," Kuebler said. "Unless they offer more grants or means of mortgage deferment, our finances may not hold up." MacDonald repeated several times the idea that the rise in COVID-19 cases was not tied to the reopening of bars, but to closed-quarters private gatherings with no masks. NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci disagrees about the bars, though. "If you are a red state and you want to get your schools open, you can ask yourself the question — you have a choice," Fauci said to the press. "You can either close the bars or close the schools." The entire state of Ohio is currently in the red. Locally, it appears Seneca County has chosen to close the schools. Fostoria City Schools is completely remote. Two schools in the Tiffin City Schools District are on a hybrid model. Students at Hopewell-Loudon, Seneca East and Old Fort are also hybrid. Additionally, sources have confirmed that bars and restaurants being open has significantly contributed to the spread of the coronavirus. A September report from the CDC showed that people who tested positive for COVID-19 were twice as likely to have visited an indoor dining establishment in the weeks prior. And a chart from the Texas Medical Association listed visiting a bar as the single most risky activity someone could do during a pandemic. MacDonald, however, wrote in the OCBA release that breweries were "among the safest places to visit during the pandemic" due to the rigorous cleaning techniques used in both brewery production areas and taprooms. "Breweries have to have exceptional sanitation to maintain optimal conditions for brewing high quality beer," she said. There are many reasons to want to keep bars open. Ohio craft breweries employed more than 8,000 people before the pandemic hit. Under current conditions, more than a third of those breweries would likely be forced to shut down within a year, according to a member poll conducted by OCBA. Kuebler said that it would be a really close call for the LAB. "I'm optimistic, but if we're in the same place next year … we've exhausted some options already, you know?" Kuebler said. The LAB employs nine people. Without the bar job and without any government stimulus money, those people would struggle to survive. If bars do end up having to close, MacDonald and OCBA are fighting for a better government plan to assist small businesses and their employees. They've advocated for delays in collection of state licensing fees and sales taxes, extensions to the Payroll Protection Program, the RESTAURANTS Act, an extension of the CARES Act and a perishable goods tax credit for food and beverage supplies that spoiled during shutdown. "We and many other hospitality-based organizations have been imploring the state and federal government for assistance," MacDonald said. Shutdown or not, the breweries need help. The LAB and Seneca County's other local breweries are no exception. "We're alive right now because of the graces of our customers," Kuebler said. "I can't thank them and my staff enough."