Outdoor Dining Is Unsafe If You Are in a Plastic Tent
Restaurants needed to get creative to weather the pandemic. Takeout-focused operations and outdoor dining have allowed us to continue to eat well throughout these long months. But as the weather turns chilly, some restaurants now serve customers “outdoors” in enclosed plastic tents, greenhouses, or bubbles. I hate to tell everyone about it, but it’s not outdoors.
Why is it better to dine outdoors in the first place?
COVID-19 is transmitted primarily by airborne droplets. Most of these droplets fall to the ground shortly after leaving your mouth or nose; they are the reason for the six-foot rule. But smaller airborne droplets – aerosols – can also transmit the virus and are likely to play a role in superproliferation events.
Dinner outdoors prevents transmission of the virus in several ways:
- It is well ventilated: the wind carries away these air droplets from us.
- The droplets fly away from each other and dissolve.
- Sunlight can help kill the coronavirus, especially on surfaces.
- It’s often easier to distance yourself on the street.
Compare restaurant seating to sidewalk tables. Instead of being trapped in a room with dozens of droplets from other people’s respiratory tract, you are in a place where the droplets are carried away in the wind, the sunlight hits the rest, and ideally, you will be six or more feet from the next table. above.
Tents hardly solve these problems.
What if you are in a tent? Well, there is a barrier between you and the people next to you. This is the only benefit. However, there are significant disadvantages: there is no wind and no dilution of the air. If the tables are closer together than they would be without the tent, then another factor is that there may be more people around you when you get in and out.
While the CDC doesn’t weigh tents much, they list some guidelines for restaurants . Among them: “Make sure ventilation systems are working properly and maximize the circulation of outside air, for example by opening windows and doors and favoring outdoor seating.” And: “Do not encourage sharing of items that are difficult to clean, disinfect, or disinfect.”
A closed tent is poorly ventilated. And it’s not easy to clean it up. How often do customers and waiters touch the door of a cute little greenhouse? You are probably better off settling in one of these little tents than crowding into the restaurant’s covered dining room, but that says little.
You’re not alone
I’ve heard the defense of dining tents boil down to this: hey, if you’re in a tent with your family or close friends, these are the people you’ve already decided you’re willing to take the risk of making contact with.
But you’re never alone in this tent, are you? Your server has to go in and out. They also serve people in all other tents. Even if this scenario is safe for you, it’s unsafe for someone who has to breathe stuffy, droplet-filled air in multiple homes while they’re just trying to make a living.
It is also possible that you are inhaling the drops left by the previous group of visitors. If the tent or greenhouse is closed, where do you think these drops have gone? Some may have fallen to the floor, table, or other surfaces; many can still float in the air. (Opening the tent on two or more sides and ventilating it between visitors will make it a little safer, but I still wouldn’t eat on one.)
Just take out
Look, I know it’s hard to adapt to new situations, and we all hope for a little taste of normality, like eating out with friends in a restaurant. But you can still eat with others and maintain your local restaurant without freezing your ass: just grab takeout, tip, and eat at home.