I don’t envy anyone who works in the restaurant industry right now. From the owners and managers trying to keep businesses afloat to the kitchen and front-of-house employees forced to interact with an over-demanding, under-tipping public in the midst of a pandemic, restaurants are having a hard time and people doing everything they can to survive.
So I understand trying to come up with creative solutions, but there’s a big difference between creativity and trying to work around public safety mandates with loopholes that put people in very real danger.
One such loophole is this apparent trend, where restaurants are expanding their outdoor dining to make it more winter-friendly. Yet after you erect full structures involving four walls and a roof, I don’t think it should really qualify as “outdoors” anymore.
Outdoor dining has gradually escalated into what might reasonably be called a buildings. pic.twitter.com/dTi7bDpg6O
— James Hamblin (@jameshamblin) November 22, 2020
Was walking around my neighborhood tonight and noticed 4-5 of these bad boys. Sealed on all 4 sides, one entrance/exit 😳 pic.twitter.com/VMRSR2Q6Mc
— Margot Woll (@margotwoll) November 22, 2020
In lieu of any federal guidance, we have a mess of guidelines that vary by state and city, and most areas do have some sort of regulation on indoor and outdoor dining in terms of limiting capacity and maintaining distance between tables. In some areas, the regulations on indoor dining are stricter than outdoor seating. There are also a lot of people who don’t feel safe sitting down inside of a restaurant right now but will take their chances with outdoor dining.
So with winter approaching, losing outdoor seating would be a major blow to a lot of these restaurants. But putting walls and a roof or tent around your outdoor seating doesn’t preserve it—it just turns it into indoor seating, complete with all the risks that come with it.
PSA: I can’t believe this needs to be said, but here goes: If you fully enclose an outdoor space, it becomes an indoor space. That’s it, that’s the tweet.
— Kakani Katija (@KakaniKatija) November 22, 2020
Just so we’re all clear, when a restaurant fully encloses its outdoor seating, it becomes indoor seating. It’s not magically somehow outside if it has a roof and four walls around it. You didn’t find a clever loophole in the system, you’re just dining maskless in a gd covid tent
— Rob Sheridan (@rob_sheridan) November 23, 2020
Me watching restaurants and bars putting up enclosed tents pic.twitter.com/V1Uiav9n5Q
— Andrew Taverrite (@AndrewTaverrite) November 22, 2020
It should go without saying but all of this also applies to at-home situations as well. Maybe you’ve had a few small backyard gatherings and you’re wondering what you’ll do when winter hits. I’m wondering the same thing myself but I know the answer is not “invite friends over to sit maskless inside an unventilated bubble.”
Worried people have no common understanding of the word “outside” https://t.co/Fekcf61nyw via @seyitaylor pic.twitter.com/xDVTbkUky0
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) November 23, 2020
Every single thing about that picture makes it clear that trying to capture the *illusion* of safety can be far more dangerous than anything else.
among everything else, should the grill really be *inside* the tent lol
— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) November 23, 2020
(image: KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)
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Published: Nov 24, 2020 12:24 pm