5 coronavirus things: Penn State temporarily closes two dining venues

In this special edition of 5 Things, Food Management highlights five things you may have missed recently about developments regarding coronavirus and its impact on onsite dining.

Here’s your list for today:

Penn State temporarily closed two on-campus dining locations— Flipps Grill and Market Pollock’s kitchen—last week out of precaution related to coronavirus, and quarantined individuals identified as close contacts for 14 days. Flipps was scheduled to reopen on Sunday, Oct. 4, and Market Pollock’s kitchen on Wednesday, Oct. 7.

Read more: Temporary Penn State Dining Closures Linked to Coronavirus Precautions

Delaware North Cos., the fourth largest company in the FM Top 50, has agreed to sell its Jumer's Casino and Hotel in Rock Island, Ill., to Twin River Worldwide Holdings for $120 million. The company had bought Jumer's, which includes a 205-room hotel, for $180 million in 2011.

Delaware North, with much of its business in hard-hit markets like airports, sports concessions and parks, recently had to lay off over 500 workers.

Read more: Delaware North to sell Illinois casino for $120 million

Related:High-tech food lockers safely deliver preorders at Auburn

Miami-Dade Public Schools, the fourth largest public school district in the country by enrollment, began in-person classes on Oct. 5. For in-school meals, the district is offering three options: cafeteria dining, outdoor dining and classroom dining, each with staggered seating.

For in-classroom dining, food will be delivered to pre-K-2 students while grades 3-12 will get their meals in the cafeteria and either take them back to their classrooms or to other parts of the school designated by school administration.

Read more: With Miami-Dade schools opening Monday, here’s what the lunchroom will look like

Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago has launched a home food delivery program for patients who might otherwise go hungry, thanks to a $150,000 grant from the Cigna Foundation. The program expands on an earlier initiative that saw the hospital open Chicago’s first onsite food pantry in a pediatric clinic. Groceries to be delivered will come from the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and participating families will be screened by social workers to determine eligibility for the food deliveries.

Read more: Lurie Children’s Hospital launches food delivery program

Related:Hospital’s healing garden grows fresh produce for its kitchen and medicinal plants to help patients

While many white-collar employees for high-tech Silicon Valley firms continue to work from home, service employees like cafeteria workers as well as janitors, bus drivers and security guards—most of them employed by contract firms—are in a more tenuous position. Some companies like Facebook and Alphabet are still paying service workers and have vowed to continue as long as the headquarters are shut while others are deciding to lay them off—and with the pandemic, there are few other venues to find new service work.

Read more: Some Silicon Valley Companies Continue to Pay Service Staff, Others Lay Them Off

Bonus: Budget deal gives USDA authority to extend child nutrition waivers through 2020-2021 school year

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]