industry as being braced for impact from the virus. on sunday, 15 march, ohio governor mike dewine and ohio health department director amy acton ordered the closure of all bars and restaurants to help slow the spread of the virus, saying the government "encouraged restaurants to offer carryout or delivery service, but they would not be allowed to have people congregating in the businesses." dewine said he'd made the decision "after being contacted by citizens around the state sharing photos and stories of crowded bars saturday night, despite warnings of social distancing and the governor's edict limiting crowds to no larger than 100 people." the city of los angeles closed all restaurants and bars later that evening and new york city announced all restaurants and bars would close by the following tuesday, both cities also allowing exceptions for takeout and delivery. the next day, illinois, new jersey, new york state, connecticut, kentucky, pennsylvania, maryland and washington dc followed suit. on 18 march, the national restaurant association asked the federal government to provide relief to restaurants and restaurant workers. by 21 march, at least 25 states had closed restaurants and bars. by 22 march, the number had risen to 38. in other states, major cities had closed bars and restaurants to sit-down diners and limited to takeout orders and delivery. industry fallout and reactions the partial rather than full closings of restaurants meant that the closings failed to trigger business interruption insurance for many restaurants; other policies had clauses excluding coverage in the case of epidemics, action by civil authority, or requiring restaurants to have physical damage to property. many employees were laid off, and more employees lacked sick leave in the sector compared to similar sectors. the new york times characterized the closures as affecting "all strata of the industry, from the owners and their celebrity chefs to the waiters and waitresses, bar-backs and busboys, who effectively are facing layoffs and may be unable to pay their rent." the virus has spread to hundreds of meat processing plants in the u.s., forcing some facilities to close, and causing tens of thousands of infections and dozens of deaths among meat processing workers. smithfield foods ceo kenneth sullivan said this created risks to the meat supply chain; the company closed at least three plants because of workers with the virus. directory and review site yelp in july announced that 60% of us restaurants that closed down completely during the pandemic had marked those closures as permanent for a total of nearly 16,000 restaurants by 24 july. government response multiple state and local governments offered relief packages for workers and restaurants. us president trump met via phone on 19 march with leaders of chain restaurant companies, but no independent franchises were included. participants included domino's pizza, mcdonald's, wendy's, yum brands and darden restaurants and representatives from the international franchise association and the national retail federation. in early may legislation was proposed in congress to allow americans to use snap benefits at restaurants. currently, food assistance benefits can only be used at restaurants if the state participates in the "restaurant meals program". the proposed snap carry act includes provisions to expand access to the restaurant program during emergencies like the pandemic. on a wider scope, in 2021 the quality franchise association published a report investigating the impacts of the pandemic on the uk franchising sector, with a survey on both franchisor and franchisee angles of business from a variety of sectors. shopping and spread of the coronavirus publix announcement in florida on 14 may 2020 individuals who have continued to shop during the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic are at an increased risk of contracting covid-19. amidst the pandemic, grocery stores and pharmacies continue to remain open and attract crowds of shoppers, thus creating the potential to further spread contagion. some stores and pharmacies have set restrictions on shoppers to encourage social distancing such as a limit on capacity, required masks for customers and employees, taking temperatures before entrance or not allowing children under 16 inside the buildings. sources this article incorporates text from a free content work. licensed under cc by-sa 3.0 igo (license statement/permission). text taken from food safety in the time of covid-19​, fao. to learn how to add open license text to wikipedia articles, please see this how-to page. for information on reusing text from wikipedia, please see the terms of use.