We can’t fault Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration for deciding recently to keep restaurants closed to indoor dining through the New Year.

More than 1,000 Northeast Michiganders have been infected since Thanksgiving Day, and restaurants are one place where people gather indoors without the benefit of their spread-stopping masks while they’re eating.

We do, however, feel greatly the pain of our local bars and restaurants, who are among the lifeblood of our local economy and among the people and places that make each community unique and special.

So we implore our readers to, please, continue supporting those establishments whenever they can.

Indoor dining is prohibited, but most places still offer takeout and delivery options.

Take advantage of those options, dear readers, to continue supporting your neighbors — and yourselves — by investing in local businesses.

And, when you do, please tip big. Employees of local eateries need all the help they can get, too.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)