The plazas along Route 20 in Sudbury are normally some of the most bustling areas of town. However, due to COVID-19 and safety concerns, some of Sudbury’s favorite establishments have been dealing with closures due to employee exposure and COVID cases. 

Local restaurant Oak Barrel Tavern (OBT), closed from December 2nd to December 7th due to a COVID scare. Senior Alex Blosfelds, who works as a host at OBT, said, “Management and all the other staff members handled it well. We made sure to clean everything, and we took protocol very seriously. We clean all returned menus with disinfectants, and we clean all surfaces, dishes, utensils, equipment regularly to make sure that no one is put in harm’s way.”

Since the scare, OBT has been back up and running and thriving through the holiday season.  The general sentiment from employees was that they were upset about temporarily shutting down, but glad to stay safe and reassured by the precautions OBT was taking.

Similarly, the Sudbury Starbucks closed from December 2nd to December 16th due to an employee contracting COVID-19.  Jishnu Ghosh, a junior at L-S and employee at Starbucks said, “While the store was closed, there was a deep cleaning to make sure everything was safe for reopening.” 

After the scare, Starbucks continued to be more cautious as well. Ghosh said, “The employees are washing hands and wiping down all high-touch areas every 30 minutes. There are also plexiglass barriers throughout the store and markings on the floor to help the customers remain socially distant. The bathrooms are still closed as of right now, and we don’t have any indoor seating to make sure that there is no spread within the store.”  Due to the strict precautions, no other employees were infected and the branch was able to reopen swiftly.  Like OBT, there has been no shutdown since, and business is back to normal.