Escalating case numbers over recent days and other COVID-19 fears have forced McDonald’s to close operations for walk-in takeaway services. The fast-food giant has taken the move in the “interests of public safety”, after stark warnings from politicians and public health experts this week.
It is not set to be as bad as it was in March, when Mcdonald’s fully closed its doors to customers. Instead, they will be keeping open their McDrive-thru. Reasons behind the decision, which is in place for the foreseeable future, were made clear in a statement released by Paul Pomroy, McDonald’s CEO for the UK and Ireland.
“As per the Irish Government’s current guidance, all of our McDonald’s drive thru’s will remain open and we will continue to provide a delivery service for our customers. Our dine-in and walk-in takeaway services will be temporarily unavailable while we take time to review and reassess our safety procedures with an independent health and safety body.
“This is a temporary change in our operations to allow us to test and validate any additional measures that may enhance the safety of our takeaway service. We will continue to keep customers updated via our McDonald’s social media channels and our website.”
The decision for McDonald’s to close their indoor services came after the COVID-19 sub-committee decided on a host of measures, in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus. A meeting took place today to discuss finalising its Covid-19 response and it is understood schools will remain closed until at least the end of January.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan yesterday warned that it is likely that Ireland will see a massive spike in the number of COVID related deaths over the next few weeks. Schools and almost all construction sites will close until the end of January, with creches remaining open.
Just like McDonald’s, retail will move to delivery only with no click and collect options while travellers arriving to the country will be required to produce a negative COVID test from three days previous.
