How To Eat Safely—And Stay Socially Distant—At Restaurants

TOPLINE

As states like Georgia, Hawaii, Alaska and Texas begin to reopen while the threat of coronavirus remains, disease spread experts advise that staying safe and socially distant at restaurants involves habit changes for both diners and staff; here’s what that looks like:

KEY FACTS

Diners should sit side-by-side, rather than facing each other, to avoid spitting into one another’s food, advises both Qinyan Chang, a professor who researches disease spread through ventilation at Purdue University and Jade Flinn, nurse educator of the biocontainment unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Since it’s impossible to wear a mask while eating, plastic dividers between diners and waitstaff is a preventative measure that Flinn recommends.

In the FDA’s new COVID-19 guide of best practices for restaurants, the administration also recommends that restaurants suspend operations that require customers to use common utensils or dispensers like salad bars, buffets, and beverage service stations.

Restaurants should disinfect between guests, and frequently disinfect commonly touched surfaces, says the FDA; Flinn adds that in order to allow adequate time for disinfection after a party finishes, it’s probably not sanitary to seat the next guests immediately at the same table.

While Flinn is not concerned about servers bringing meals to diners, as this interaction is likely too short to spread the disease, waitstaff should wear masks, per the FDA, and remain at least six feet from diners while taking orders because this is a prolonged interaction that could lead to COVID-19 spread via droplet transmission.

Restaurants should limit capacity to 25% to maintain social distance, says Flinn, to keep parties distant and from sharing air with one another. 

Unobstructed ventilation is also key for restaurant temperature regulation, says Chen and Flinn, as this will prevent recirculated air from infecting diners. 

Critical Quote

“There’s always going to be a certain risk we’re taking by going out in public. The risk mitigation begins with your personal safety and the way that you’re behaving in public,” says Flinn. 

Key background

States including Michigan, Hawaii, Alaska, Texas and Georgia have begun to reopen. On Monday, Georgia allowed restaurants to reopen with a 39-point guide intended to keep staff and diners coronavirus-free that includes measures like mandatory masks for employees, dining capacity limits and illness screening for employees. Many leaders, including President Trump and Dr. Anthony Fauci, have been critical of Georgia’s decision to reopen restaurants (as well as gyms, tattoo parlors and barber shops), with Fauci saying, “that could be setting us back.” 

Still, many Georgia restaurants remain open only for takeout, a number of owners feel it may be unsafe to serve sit-down diners. 

While many state and federal leaders work to plot reopening, the timeline to do so safely remains largely unclear. The University of Washington’s COVID-19 model, used by the White House, increased its death toll by 10% to 74,000 on Tuesday as states like Georgia begin to lift stay-at-home measures. Dr. Chris Murray, director of the University of Washington’s Institute for Help Metrics and Evaluation, told CNN that the model was adjusted to reflect states’ reopening, and that states that open too early will see higher mortality rates.

Further Reading

Coronavirus Model Used By White House Increases Death Toll For The Second Time In A Week (Forbes)

Georgia Restaurants Opened Their Doors Today—Here’s How It Went (Forbes)

Kemp releases standards for restaurants to resume dine-in service (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Reopening States Too Early Will Bring Deadlier Outcomes, Coronavirus Projection Models Show (CNN)

Best Practices for Retail Food Stores, Restaurants, and Food Pick-Up/Delivery Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Food and Drug Administration)

Full coverage and live updates on the Coronavirus

Speak Your Mind

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Get in Touch

350FansLike
100FollowersFollow
281FollowersFollow
150FollowersFollow

Recommend for You

Oh hi there 👋
It’s nice to meet you.

Subscribe and receive our weekly newsletter packed with awesome articles that really matters to you!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

You might also like

Govt Seeks Parliament Nod for Rs 20,000 Crore Capital...

File photo of Parliament House. ...

Five Ways That Coronavirus Will Change The Way We...

These are unprecedented times. One thing is for sure— with the majority consensus that...

Elon Musk Threatens To Pull Tesla Out Of California...

TOPLINE Billionaire CEO Elon Musk said on Saturday that Tesla would “immediately” move its...

Mall Titan Brookfield To Cut 20% Of Workforce In...

NEW YORK: Brookfield Properties, one of the nation’s largest mall operators, is cutting...