McDonald's will stop reopening restaurants for 21 days as COVID-19 cases spike across America

• McDonald's is pausing its restaurant reopening plan, due to COVID-19 cases rising across the US.
• For the next 21 days, McDonald's will not reopen any locations' dining rooms.
• "This surge shows nobody is exempt from this virus – even places that previously had very few cases," McDonald's leadership said in an internal letter.

McDonald's is pausing restaurant reopenings, as COVID-19 cases rise across the US.

On Wednesday, the fast-food giant announced it would pause dine-in reopening plans for the next 21 days, in an internal letter.

In a letter viewed by Business Insider, franchisees who reopened dining rooms were instructed to carefully review any new state and local guidelines that may require returning to a business model centered on drive-thru, delivery, and carry out. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the letter and McDonald's plan to pause reopening.

"COVID-19 cases are on the rise – with a 65 percent increase in infections over the last two weeks," reads the letter from Joe Erlinger, McDonald's US president, and Mark Salebra, the head of the National Franchisee Leadership Alliance. "In the last seven days, 32 states saw increasing cases and this number appears to be growing."

Erlinger and Salebra say that the McDonald's system must "act with the same mindset and discipline we employed throughout the crisis." This includes employees and — in some areas — customers being required to wear masks, continuing wellness and temperature checks, and enforcing social distancing.

"This surge shows nobody is exempt from this virus – even places that previously had very few cases," the letter reads. "Moving forward, we will continue to monitor the situation and adjust as needed to protect the safety of our employees and customers."

Some McDonald's franchisees have been reopening dining rooms in recent weeks, as states allow restaurants to reopen. Through the pandemic, the chain has emphasized its drive-thru business. Same-store sales at the chain dropped by roughly 25% in late March, and generally improved in the weeks since, according to the company.