Popular Five Points restaurant reinstates mask requirement, other COVID precautions

As the delta variant of the coronavirus rapidly spreads through Richland County, one Five Points restaurant is going back to strict COVID-19 protocols, a co-owner posted on Facebook.

Columbia restaurateur Ricky Mollohan announced on Facebook that Mr. Friendly’s will begin requiring patrons to wear masks until seated and will remove tables from the dining room so they can institute social distancing.

Mollohan announced the change in a Facebook group called “South Carolinians reducing the spread and impact of Covid 19,” saying he’d make the announcement on the restaurant’s social media pages later.

“The reality of the delta variant is here,” Mollohan posted. “And we’ve known that lots of our friend and families don’t want to get vaccinated. We also know that even those of us who are fully vaccinated can still spread COVID. So, I get to post this on the restaurant accounts tomorrow. And I just can’t believe we have to. Shame on so many.”

The changes to the restaurant’s mask policies took effect Wednesday, according to the post. Along with social distancing and requiring masks, the staff will increase cleaning and sanitizing, and managers will check staff’s temperature daily.

“I can’t speak for any other restaurant owners. Nor can I speak for more than our one location. But today I manned the phones from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.,” Mollohan posted. “And there were several calls from folks concerned about what steps we were taking to protect our staff and customers from the delta variant. In other words…it’s back.”

“And if we don’t take it seriously now, well, I can’t stomach what things could look like in the coming months.”

Mollohan’s announcement comes as Richland County saw a jump in rate of COVID-19 spread. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Richland County has “high” rates of COVID-19 transmission, meaning that the county has seen more than 100 cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days. As of Wednesday, Richland County easily surpassed that with 153 cases per 100,000 people over seven days, according to CDC data.

This story was originally published July 28, 2021 at 3:33 PM.

Emily Bohatch

The State

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Emily Bohatch helps cover South Carolina’s government for The State. She also updates The State’s databases. Her accomplishments include winning multiple awards for her coverage of state government and of South Carolina’s prison system. She has a degree in Journalism from Ohio University’s E. W. Scripps School of Journalism. Support my work with a digital subscription