Despite Being Allowed To Open, Some Northwest Indiana Restaurants, Brewpubs Have Decided To Stay Closed For COVID-19 Safety
MUNSTER, Ind. (CBS) -- Northwest Indiana's COVID-19 cases are surging, with the area reporting a record number of cases of COVID on Monday – a total of 620 in the five-county region alone.
And while the state remains open, currently in Stage 5 of its reopening plan, CBS 2's Tara Molina found some businesses are choosing to stay closed - with more restrictions than the state's for the sake of safety.
Popular Indiana brewery 3 Floyds continues to keep its Munster brewpub closed, even as bars and restaurants have fully reopened in the area under the state's guidelines.
They are open for curbside pickup, but that's it.
And 3 Floyds is not the only Northwest Indiana business choosing not to serve customers - restricting themselves, for the sake of safety, despite Indiana's reopening plan.
Gabe Mauch and Kate Mauch Sheehan are the brother-sister team behind the Grindhouse Café in Griffith.
"For us? This is the responsible way of doing business," Mauch said.
"People over profits," Mauch Sheehan said.
Mauch described the restaurant's offerings as "craft coffee, fancy-pants sandwiches, and we bake our own pastries every day."
But you can't enjoy any of it inside the restaurant. They're not open for indoor dining now and have no plans to be any time soon.
"We just want to keep everybody safe," Mauch Sheehan said.
Unlike every region in Illinois now, the rules in Indiana would allow for the Grindhouse to be open if the owners so chose. But with the area's positivity at more than 11 percent, the Mauches said their choice is about safety.
"Safety and community and the safety of our community," Mauch said.
Statewide in Indiana, 3,080 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Monday, along with 26 deaths. The seven-day average number of cases just in Northwest Indiana is 450.
Just a month ago that average was 120.
"I think that if you're not taking every step you can to keep your staff safe and every step you can to make your community safe, you're just not opening your business correctly," Mauch said.
The number of Hoosiers in the hospital across the state (1,732) and in Northwest Indiana (293) are near the highest levels since the start of the pandemic.
Lake County, Indiana alone reported 366 cases and two deaths on Monday.
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