News Bite

County Health Official: Michigan’s Bars and Restaurants Are ‘Silly Things’

Yet they employ 1 out of 11 workers

A county-level health administrator referred to Michigan’s bars and restaurants as “silly things” in a July 30 MLive story about hopes of reopening schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We need to close the bars and restaurants and other silly things we don’t need to be doing so we can reopen schools,” said Mark Cheatham, health officer for the Mid-Michigan District Health Department, according to MLive. “Our priorities are a mess.” The district includes Clinton, Gratiot and Montcalm counties.

In 2019, there were 393,970 people in the food preparation and serving-related industry, accounting for 1 out of 11 workers in this state. There were 4.3 million workers in Michigan in 2019.

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.