Another reason to avoid indoor restaurant dining

A few days ago, the Washington Post published this article about a Korean study “that suggests the virus, under certain airflow conditions, travels farther than six feet and can infect others in as little as five minutes.”

I’ll let you read the details, but the study does show that maintaining six feet between tables in itself isn’t adequate. A person was infected by another person who was 21 feet away from them. And the first person was infected within five minutes of the second person sitting down, since the first person left the restaurant at that point. Of course, this isn’t a definitive study with thousands of restaurants and identical conditions – that simply isn’t possible. But anyone who would reject this study for that reason is a fool, IMHO. You might still go to restaurants, but that’s your own decision based on your personal risk factors for the disease and the likelihood that you might yourself already be infected. But you shouldn’t just ignore this study.

And neither should cities. Of course, in cities like New York, which just shut down all indoor restaurant dining, or Chicago, which never reopened restaurants in the first place, this study doesn’t matter. In other places, it probably does. I just checked, and the 7-day growth rate in Covid deaths just went from 6.0 to 6.1 percent. It’s been climbing relentlessly since two weeks ago when it was 4.0%, and it’s not likely to stop climbing anytime soon, given the astounding growth in new cases. This isn’t the time to be taking big chances, whether you’re making your personal dining choices or you run a city health department.

Of course, I'm very sympathetic to restaurant owners and workers whose livelihoods will be disrupted by further shutdowns. But the solution to their problems isn't to leave the restaurants open so they can spread the virus further. They need to be compensated as much as possible. The relief bill currently being considered includes an extension of the Paycheck Protection Program. That should help a lot of restaurant owners get through the coming shutdowns - whether imposed by local governments or just by their customers staying away in droves.

I would love to hear any comments or questions you have on this post. Drop me an email at tom@tomalrich.com.

 

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