| THE BIG STORY Here’s what a reopened restaurant looks like
Tennessee is one of the first states to allow restaurants to partially reopen for sit-down dining, and regional chain O'Charley's has a guide for its staff on how to make it work. It’s eight pages long, and staff say it’s extremely difficult – and perhaps impossible — to fully comply with.
Among the things on the checklist — above and beyond the regular responsibilities that had kept everyone busy before all this:
Temperature check every guest and employee on arrival. Question every guest about symptoms and potential exposure to the virus. Change gloves every time you approach a different table. Wash your hands before putting on new gloves, after handling money or running a credit card transaction and every time you return to the dining room. And obviously keep six feet between you and the guests, however possible, even while serving food and clearing tables.
That’s just the beginning of it. "There’s no possible way for us employees to do what they're asking us to do,” one server told Tasneem Nashrulla. “It's just not possible."
STAYING ON TOP OF THIS The situation in Michigan
You’ve probably seen the viral images of the anti-lockdown protests in Michigan, including some of armed men entering the state capitol building last week. But there’s a lot more to the story as the state grapples with one of the country’s worst coronavirus outbreaks.
We’ve partnered with the Detroit Free Press to publish some of its work, as part of a larger project to highlight great local news reporting from across the US. This weekend we published its look at how people and officials across the state are approaching the debate over how and when businesses should re-open.
One major factor is that the state’s outbreak is concentrated in the Detroit metro area, where 3,254 people had died of the virus as of Saturday (there has been a total of 4,053 deaths statewide, according to our live tracker page).
“I have five counties that don’t have a single case," said Republican state Sen. Ed McBroom, who represents the state’s western Upper Peninsula. If the situation were reversed and a virus was raging in his region but hadn’t hit the big cities, “you guys would have burned the bridge down already” to protect the economy of the rest of the state, he said.
Armed protesters in the Michigan capitol building last week. (Jeff Kowalsky / Getty Images) SNAPSHOTS The UK government has prepared guidance on how it plans to reopen businesses and get people back to work in the coming weeks. BuzzFeed News obtained all the documents.
A judge has dismissed the US Women’s National Soccer Team’s equal pay lawsuit. The women say they plan to appeal the ruling.
The CDC did not revise down the number of coronavirus deaths in the US, as many claimed this weekend. It was just one of those BS things doing the rounds online.
Speaking of BS. Here’s a profile of a Montana doctor who has become a prominent national spreader of it.
Ben Kothe / BuzzFeed News; Hunter D'Antuono, Liberty Fellowship / Facebook HELP US KEEP QUALITY NEWS FREE FOR ALL
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RIP TO A HERO When the time comes, some people step up
Many of us like to think we’d do something heroic if the situation demanded it of us. In reality, only a few people have what it takes to risk their lives to save others. Paul Cary was one of them.
Cary, a 66-year-old veteran Colorado paramedic, volunteered to travel to New York City in mid-March and serve as an ambulance worker in the Bronx, deployed there by FEMA on April 1. He was admitted to a hospital here less than two weeks ago with symptoms of the virus, and died on Thursday.
"He did not have to do it," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said of Cary’s choice to serve in the epicenter of the pandemic. "He made the choice to come here to save lives." De Blasio said the city will eventually build a memorial to Cary and other first responders. "It just hurts that such a good man has made the ultimate sacrifice for us.”
Paul Cary (Courtesy of Ambulnz) THE SONG OF THE SUMMER A star is born
An 8-year-old stuck at home with her family wrote one of 2020’s hottest new jams over the weekend. "I wonder what's inside your butthole," the song asks of its listeners. “Maybe there is astronauts / Maybe there is aliens / All inside your butthole / What's inside your butthole? I always want to know," Jolee Dunn sang.
Her mom Lisa Rieffel-Dunn shared the video of her performance, and more than five million people have bopped along to it. You really have to watch it to appreciate the full beauty of it all.
"Jolee has always been super performative and the funniest person I have ever known," Rieffel-Dunn said of her daughter, the internationally famous singer. "She is always making up songs, and lyrics are her strong suit." And if you read all the way to the end of the article, there’s a treat: BuzzFeed News was given an exclusive video of Jolee performing her second single, “I Love My Mom.”
Maybe there really are aliens in there? At least Jolee is asking the right questions,
Tom P.S. If you like this newsletter, help keep our reporting free for all. Support BuzzFeed News by becoming a member here. (monthly memberships are available worldwide) 📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by Tom Gara and BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.
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