Delta Variant Could Close Indoor Seating at US McDonald’s Restaurants

McDonald’s is among the U.S. fast-food restaurants that are closing indoor seating areas or limiting their hours as the COVID-19 delta variant continues its surge, according to a Reuters report.

McDonald’s had reopened about 70 percent of its indoor dining areas by last month and had been planning to reopen all of them by Labor Day after shutting most of them down early in 2020.

“We’re monitoring the impact of the delta variant closely and recently convened together with our franchisees to underscore existing safety protocols, reinforce our people-first approach and provide updates on the rise in cases in the country,” McDonald’s Corp said in a statement on Friday (Aug. 27).

An internal company memo seen by Reuters says that franchisees are under orders to re-close their dining rooms in areas where the coronavirus delta variant is spreading and COVID cases exceed 250 per 100,000 people on a rolling three-week average. No specific numbers are included in the materials in terms of the number of McDonald’s locations that have or will shut down indoor seating.

“We have a much deeper sense of what actions make a difference for the safety of our restaurant teams and crew,” McDonald’s USA President Joe Erlinger said during a Wednesday (Aug. 25) meeting, according to the materials cited in the Reuters report.

Deaths and cases related to the delta variant were up 11 percent and 3 percent, respectively, in the past week, while hospitalizations increased 6 percent in the past week to an eight-month high, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.

Related: McDonald’s Aims To Become McData As Digital Strategy Takes Center Stage

In June, McDonald’s said digital sales across its top six markets were nearly $8 billion, up 70 percent from the same time in 2020. Comparable U.S. sales were up almost 15 percent since 2019 and up 26 percent from last year.

Younger McDonald’s consumers are looking at the fast-food giant’s app as a principal point of engagement. The company had 12 million loyalty customers in place even before the company “even turned on the advertising” for the program itself, and is now targeting an expansion of its loyalty program to be part of drive-thru service.