DeWine to set up groups to examine restaurant, barbershop, salon reopenings

COLUMBUS (WCMH) – Now that some businesses have been given guidelines on how to reopen in Ohio, the governor’s office is moving on to the next group of businesses: restaurants, barbershops, and salons.

Gov. Mike DeWine announced during his coronavirus briefing Tuesday that two groups will be formed immediately to investigate reopening and setting up guidelines to reopen those businesses, one for the restaurants and another for barbershops, salons, and those types of businesses.

DeWine said he reached out to Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, Senate President Larry Obhof, Senate Minority Leader Kenny Yuko, and House Minority leader Emilia Sykes to reach out to local business organizations to find the best people to form these groups.

The groups will be in the mold of the state’s business group formed to come up with a plan to reopen other state businesses.

“I’ve always told my team that there are always Ohioans, whatever problem we have, there’s some Ohioans out there who know more than we do about this particular area and we need to gather them together and get some results,” DeWine said.

The governor said the groups will be made up of both small-business, single-shop representatives as well as those who operate larger chains.

DeWine said he expects these groups to be formed this week, look at the best practices to keep both employees and customers safe, and come up with recommendations for reopening.

No date or deadline has been announced for when the groups would offer their recommendations.

On Monday, when the state announced businesses that would reopen but didn’t include restaurants, John Barker, president of the Ohio Restaurant Association, said the association would like to begin reopening eateries May 15.

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