Summary of How to make restaurants safer during the pandemic” by Charlotte Jee

Here, we provide you a glance at the article from MIT Technology Review “How to make restaurants safer during the pandemic” by Charlotte Jee. 

It’s no doubt that restaurants throughout the world were affected by the pandemic. Eating in a restaurant can increase the possibility of the people-to-people transmission of Coronavirus. According to the article, the droplets can spread Coronavirus while talking, sneeze, or cough. However, the recent study found out that aerosol can also be a route for transmission of Coronavirus, and it is a reason why indoor transmission could still happen. However, the information hasn’t been exposed to the public; thus, people still haven’t obtained sufficient information on Coronavirus's aerosol infection. Consequently, this causes many restaurants to follow the COVID-19 guideline improperly. 

The article does mention something you can do to prevent Coronavirus transmission for the restaurant business. If possible, moving to outdoor dining. According to the article, Bjorn Birnir, director of UC Santa Barbara’s Center for Complex and Nonlinear Science, illustrates that “The risk of infection is 20 times higher inside than outside” (Jee). If outdoor dining is restricted to your restaurant, you should require every employee to wear masks. In addition, restaurants should also make a distance between tables. The article also brings up some innovative suggestions for restaurants, like turning the music down so that customers won’t talk aloud. As a result, we can avoid droplets spreading. Moreover, “Bahnfleth, the architectural engineer, says you want to aim for six full replacements of indoor air with virus-free air per hour” (Jee). To do air changes, you can open a window and door or implement germicidal ultraviolet to disinfect the air. Air purifier is also an option for you to make air changes.

Furthermore, this article also provides some useful sources, like Setty, to give you more ideas for designing your restaurant environment. You can simply enter the size, ceiling height, average occupancy, etc. It will give you a score of how safe your restaurant is. The article doesn’t mean that using a plastic partition between tables or temperature taking is not essential, but just not that effective to avoid aerosol transmission. However, the reality is that as this pandemic situation continues to go on, customers will still be concerned about having meals in a restaurant. The only thing the restaurant business can do is adjust its operation, such as take-out service or outdoor seating. Surviving in this pandemic is exhausting. The only thing now is just do your best.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/10/28/1011261/how-to-make-restaurants-safer/