Miami Valley restaurants booked for Mother’s Day after having to stay closed last year

MIAMI VALLEY — Friday, the state reported more than double the number of new COVID-19 cases, compared to May 7th 2020.

May 7th 2021: Ohio Department of Health reported 1,397 new cases

May 7th 2020: Ohio Department of Health reported 616 new cases

However, circumstances have changed, and people are now more comfortable with group celebrations. Meanwhile, health leaders are more optimistic about the pandemic’s status now, than last Mother’s Day weekend.

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“We just missed so much of our lives last year, so I think people are just really ready to embrace that again and celebrate and enjoy some of these moments,” Maria Walusis, Watermark’s chef and owner said.

Now, families are making up for lost time.

For Mother’s Day brunch, the Miamisburg restaurant is totally booked. Lily’s Dayton also has no more available brunch reservations. The same goes for dinner at The Paragon Supper Club in Washington Township.

“It’s wonderful to see everybody out and I think that they’re coming out in droves, because they were denied the opportunity last year to celebrate Mother’s Day, which is a big deal,” The Paragon Supper Club assistant manager Clair Gilmore said.

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Dan Suffoletto with Public Health – Dayton and Montgomery County explained, the state is in a much different pandemic position than last year because of the vaccines.

“It’s night and day between last year and this year. Now, there’s a lot of hope because there is a vaccine. Many, many people are vaccinated and people see that the number of cases are going down at this point and that’s good. Last year the numbers of cases were going up and that was bad,” Suffoletto said.

However, he said people cannot forget their pandemic precautions.

“We’re not done with Covid yet,” Suffoletto said.

He explained, gatherings will be safer this year for people who are fully vaccinated.

Cox Media Group