DETROIT – Like most restaurants during the COVID pandemic, McShane’s Irish Pub and Whiskey Bar in Corktown has been hit hard.
The owners are investing new money with the specific purpose of keeping customers and staff as safe as possible when they’re inside the restaurant.
“It’s impacted us in so many ways,” owner Bob Roberts said. “We had several people that had it (coronavirus), including myself.”
Roberts said one of their employees was in critical condition and spent 18 days in an intensive care unit in a hospital.
Roberts said they purchased an in-room air filtration system. The DuraVent system was designed just months ago to help businesses fight the spread of COVID.
It has a HEPA filtration system, similar to what is used on airplanes. McShane’s is one of the first to have the nearly $2,000 machine installed.
The product is designed to go into schools, office buildings, and other areas where people work. The system pushes clean air through the top of the machine while sucking dirty, dusty air back into the machine.
Roberts said before they installed the system they had an employee who suffered from allergies and now she doesn’t need her allergy medication while at work.
The National Restaurant Association said restaurant and foodservice sales were $240 billion below pre-pandemic forecasts.
Read: Complete Michigan COVID coverage