The head of the organization that lobbies on behalf of Michigan's restaurants and hotels says the latest state government epidemic order will bring more closed restaurants, more lost jobs and more foreclosures than it will prevent COVID-19 from spreading.

According to Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association CEO Justin Winslow, the mandate announced Thursday requiring dine-in food establishments to collect the names and cell phone numbers of all patrons for later contact tracing will put restaurants out of business.

Winslow said in a press release that data collected by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services links restaurants to just three out of 144 "outbreaks" reported recently across the state, or 2%.

He said the state mandate “is more likely to result in job loss, foreclosure and fewer restaurants than it will prevent transmission.”

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services director Robert Gordon has defined a “gathering” in Michigan as “any occurrence, either indoor or outdoor, where two or more persons from more than one household are present in a shared space.”

The definition empowers the state to regulate gatherings of any two individuals who are not from the same household, with a failure to abide by the rules punishable by civil fines of up to $1,000. This implies that two friends who are not wearing face masks and walking together (not six feet apart) in a empty park would be subject to state-imposed penalties.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services imposed a new and more restrictive set of coronavirus restrictions on business and schools on Oct. 29.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services released new and more restrictive rules on Oct. 29 that require businesses and schools to provide the names and phone numbers of individuals with “possible” COVID-19 exposure to state officials. It’s unclear in the order if the individuals include all customers, too.

The information would be used for contact tracing and case investigations, according to a press release from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

Also, all dine-in food establishments will have to collect the names and phone numbers of patrons who purchase food for consumption on the premises, along with the date and time of the purchase, effective Nov. 2. The order has no expiration date.