Effective this week, diners in Michigan are now going to be required to produce their full name and contact information simply for wanting to eat out at a restaurant or bar.
Ironically, it’s likely more information than citizens are required to produce in order to vote.
Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer has moved her state one step closer to a true Orwellian paradise, asking her citizens to surrender their privacy every time they want a cheeseburger and a coke at their local diner. Whitmer has already been struck down once by the Supreme Court over trying to unilaterally extend the state’s emergency declarations, The Western Journal noted.
A new release from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said: “Like many other businesses in Michigan, bars and restaurants will also be required to take names and contact information to support effective contact tracing if necessary.”
But who can be worried about such mundane things as rights in the midst of an unstoppable pandemic that is slightly more deadly than the flu, right?
That was the Michigan DHS’s take. They said: “Michigan presently has 172 cases per million people and positivity of tests has increased from about 2 percent to 5.5 percent and both indicators have been increasing for over four weeks. Hospitalizations for COVID-19 have doubled over the last three weeks while the state death rate has increased for five consecutive weeks.”
The order also reduced the amount of people that can gather in the state for weddings and parties: “As part of the newly extended orders, MDHHS today reduces from 500 persons to 50 persons the maximum gathering size for indoor gatherings such as weddings, parties, and banquets which occur in nonresidential settings without fixed seating.”
It added: “For bars, restaurants, and social events outside private homes, indoor party sizes at a single table are now restricted to six people.”
Violating the order could result in a $1,000 fine, a misdemeanor, and potentially imprisonment, the DHS said: “Violations are punishable by a civil fine up to $1,000 and may also be treated as a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than six months or a fine of not more than $200, or both. In addition, failure to comply with orders may violate a business or professional’s licensure requirements or present a workplace safety violation.”
Unsurprisingly, Michigan businesses are not happy about the new order.
Michigan Licensed Beverage Association Executive Director Scott Ellis concluded: “Again, what’s this data gathering if the data is not truthful, how do we know how good it is? Our front-line servers have already had trouble dealing with masks and mandates and mandating masks. We did de-escalation training and all kinds of other things to help with that and now we’re taking to the next level. We have to gather someone’s personal information?”
Reprinted with permission from ZeroHedge.
