Rivers Street Ale House closes dine-in after Boone’s spike in COVID-19 cases

Mickey Hutchings

Located next to the Student Recreation Center on Rivers Street, Rivers Street Ale House is temporarily closed after a local spike in COVID-19 cases.

Emily Broyles, Reporter
October 6, 2020

Rivers Street Ale House has closed dine-in operations, now only filling take out and delivery orders after Boone’s spike in COVID-19 cases.

The restaurant posted a statement signed “The Ale House Family” on Instagram Oct. 5, saying it felt responsible in “taking aggressive action” to flatten the virus’ curve.

“This has been an extremely difficult decision as our staff needs to work to pay their bills and we will miss seeing our customers and friends,” the statement read. “The safety of our staff, customers and the Boone community is our top priority in making this decision.”

As of Oct. 6, Watauga County added 109 active cases in the past week.There are 325 active cases in Watauga County, with 229 of them being App State students, as of Oct. 6.

Ale House closed temporarily in August after five employees tested positive for COVID-19. It reopened four days later for take-out only.

The restaurant’s closure also comes after an App State football game day Sept. 26.

A student sent this video in of Mountaineer fans at Ale House on Sept. 26. The video was taken at 1:34 p.m. pic.twitter.com/zowZRSudqn

— Emily Broyles (@em_broyles) October 7, 2020

“We encourage everyone to be nice to one another, love your neighbor, check on each other, lift each other up and we will come out of this stronger as a community,” the statement read.

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