Should We Take Out the Take-Out?
The continuing progression of how the country is handling the COVID-19 pandemic has California currently in a “Stay at Home” order, along with at least 30 other states. People are not to leave their homes unless they are doing an “essential” activity. These essential activities include, but are not limited to, allowing people to go to the grocery stores, pharmacies, and restaurants (for pick-up only).
Along with this order, people have been advised to maintain proper cleanliness procedures (i.e. washing hands, coughing into elbows, etc.), as well as maintaining a six-foot distance from others. It is understandable that places like grocery stores and pharmacies stay open during this time as people need food, medication, and other basic necessities that these locations sell. However, restaurants have seemed to be put at the front line alongside these establishments. This is not out of a need to provide Americans with food, but rather because of the need to support restaurant workers and small businesses. While big chain corporations can still be profiting, it is the “mom-and-pop” restaurants that are either losing money or - at best - breaking even in order to keep their employees afloat.
According to an article in the New York Post by Jennifer Gould Keil, restaurants throughout New York that depended on dine-in customers are only seeing about ten percent of their overall sales since the restrictions led them to do delivery and take-out only. Restaurant owners have taken to starting GoFundMe pages in order to continue to pay for operations, as well as help aid workers who are unable to receive government financial assistance.
If people are to follow the rules of social distancing and what our leaders have been advising us to do to slow the spread of COVID-19, they should easily conclude that restaurants should close completely.
Before I go on, it should be known that I have worked in the restaurant industry for over seven years as a server, bartender, and manager. I am currently out of work as the restaurant I was recently working at closed down in order to put the safety of our employees first. I completely understand first-hand how this pandemic is crippling to restaurant workers as many others have shut down, or otherwise reduced workers’ hours. I, along with many other restaurant workers, now have to navigate through the stress of figuring out how to financially survive for the next unknown amount of time through this pandemic. I understand why people still need and want to work.
With that being said, how can we as a society follow these safety guidelines while we are still being given the freedom to indulge in take-out food? Why is this promotion of support magically exempt from all of the fears our government and health officials have been warning us of?
On March 20, a coalition of chain restaurants took to Twitter to announce a movement that took place on March 24. The movement encouraged people to go to at least one restaurant on March 24 to support the restaurant industry through ordering take-out or delivery. Another is happening on March 31. They’re calling this movement “The Great American Take-Out” and adorned its’ branding in a purposefully-patriotic red, white, and blue aesthetic because this is America and you can’t take away our take-out!
A movement with the best interests of restaurant workers, or in this case the owners of said chains, seems to clash with the interests of our country’s current situation. In fact, just a day before the movement was to take place, Gary He of the New York Eater wrote an article on a how a popular restaurant called Carbone initially had plans to execute safe social distancing for its’ pick-up patrons, until the plans were overridden by high pick-up volume causing a very crowded sidewalk. It got so crowded that local law enforcement had to intervene to enforce safe social distancing. Although this restaurant was just in New York, the Great American Take-Out movement was nationwide.
When Garcetti announced his Safer at Home order he encouraged going for walks and getting outside; however the mayor has since changed this tune as he took to Twitter to announce he has now closed public parks, beach parking, and sports recreational centers and scolded Angelenos for “packing beaches, trails, and parks.” In a previous tweet that same day he had reminded Angelenos that “outdoor activity is only allowed when practicing physical distancing.” This serves as an example of a freedom the mayor had given people and then took back once it did not work, as beaches and parks in LA County are now closed entirely. It is unknown whether or not these packed public spaces cause further spread of COVID-19, but if they did, the mayor’s stricter restrictions are no longer nearly as preventative as they could have been.
It is clear that social distancing was not the priority when creating “The Great Take-Out.” It is exacerbating the problem we are trying to get rid of by concentrating the foot traffic of take-out into one single day. As Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti allows restaurants to stay open, how long is it until the plan fails just as it did at Carbone and just as it did with people going outside? Garcetti has said that even if you are young and asymptomatic, our city is still in a position to pass on that infection to at least two more people and we need to bring that number down. This means that a restaurant worker may be asymptomatic and can potentially pass the virus on to whoever handles the food once it leaves the restaurant.
In terms of health codes and sanitation amid the coronavirus, there hasn’t been a clear statement on whether or not rules are being strictly enforced in restaurants. Therefore, how can people really know if it is safe? Well, they can’t. Even on the CDC’s website there is very limited information and guidelines on food safety in food retail establishments. A common quote people are using from the CDC is, “Currently there is no evidence of food or food packaging being associated with transmission of COVID-19.” However, in that same section the site says, “With the detection of the coronavirus in asymptomatic people and studies showing survival of coronavirus on surfaces for short periods of time, as an extra precaution, food facilities may want to consider a more frequent cleaning and sanitation schedule for high human contact surfaces.” This not only contradicts their earlier statement but it puts all of the pressure on restaurants to figure out how to properly and safely operate in the midst of a brand new and developing disease.
The only restrictions the Garcetti has put on restaurants is that people cannot dine-in and can only order for delivery or take-out. In fact, he encouraged people to go support local restaurants in this fashion. However, there was initially very limited enforcement on these restrictions as Garcetti placed the responsibility on Angelenos to report any restaurants that aren’t following orders. Now Garcetti has partnered with City Attorney Mike Feuer to enforce that any “failure to heed the [Safer at Home] order is a misdemeanor that can result in fines or jail time.” The harsher consequences put fire under businesses that do not follow city-ordained restrictions, but this still leaves sanitation requirements wide open and people can only hope that the establishments are doing their best.
So the question lies, why are restaurants still open? Although there are restrictions, it is a mystery as to why exactly the mayor hasn’t shut down restaurants entirely. Is it to further limit hoarding and shortages at grocery stores? Is it to support our city’s economy? We don’t know.
