Anatomy of a super spreader: Harper's outbreak a caution for college bars

As Michigan State University students return to campus this fall, a popular East Lansing restaurant, bar and club hopes to reopen after closing them last month following a COVID-19 outbreak linked to 188 infections.

But Harper’s Restaurant and Brewpub owners promise things will look very different: No more dancing, loud music or bar service. Instead, masks will be mandatory, doors hands-free, social distancing enhanced and lines managed by an app that will include contact tracing features to help public health officials track the virus in the event of another exposure event.

“If you get up” from a table to go anywhere other than the bathroom or to leave, “you’re going to be escorted out of the building,” owner Pat Riley told the Michigan Liquor Control Commission on Thursday during a remote meeting by Zoom. “It’s just going to be that simple.”

Commissioners, who have the power to revoke Harper’s liquor license, grilled Pat and Tricia Riley for more than two hours in what could be a test case for how the state treats bars and restaurants that fail to adhere to new COVID-19 safety rules.

Read more: https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/anatomy-super-spreader-harpers-outbreak-caution-college-bars