Dispatch: Bars and restaurants have closed across Ohio during COVID pandemic, but how many?
UC economics professor Michael Jones weighs in on extent of COVID-19's business impact on Ohio
Everyone knows that the coronavirus pandemic has been disastrous for eateries and bars throughout Ohio. The questions that remains unanswered: Is the worst yet to come?
According to a recent story in The Columbus Dispatch, "Bars and restaurants have closed across Ohio during COVID pandemic, but how many?" at least one in six restaurants have closed nationwide this year, and surveys from the Ohio Restaurant Association suggest that Ohio has lost a similar proportion — about 4,000 of its more than 23,000 restaurants.
To gain insight into the effect of the crisis on the state's restaurant businesses, reporter Patrick Cooley turned to Michael Jones, executive director of the Kautz-Uible Economics Institute in the Carl H. Lindner College of Business.
Jones, who is also an assistant professor of economics at the University of Cincinnati, told Cooley that data points, such as job losses and consumer spending, also hint at business closures.
“We know that at the height of the crisis the restaurant industry lost about half their employees,” Jones said.
Related Stories
From hobbyist photographer to professional educator
October 9, 2026
DAAP alum and photographer HATSUE studied communication design after a pivot in high school from a track toward veterinary school. Today, they teach photography at 1001 Colors white working as an artist and curator in Cincinnati.
UC researcher to launch national study with $2.5 million NIH grant
October 9, 2026
A University of Cincinnati researcher has received a $2.5 million National Institutes of Health grant to conduct research during the next five years. Natalie Kreitzer, MD, a University of Cincinnati College of Medicine physician-researcher, received an R01 independent research grant from the NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The funding will support a test program for caregivers of patients with traumatic brain injury, as reported by the Cincinnati Business Courier.
Lighting up the skyline for Blink
October 9, 2026
A team of University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music students designed “Echoes of Light,” a music-and-light installation on Ohio’s largest mural for BLINK, Cincinnati’s massive public light and art festival.