Don’t Eat Inside a Restaurant | Hacker News Reader

Don’t Eat Inside a Restaurant

theatlantic.com

31 pointsfortran7710 comments

I’m amazed that this is still something people need to be told. Everything we know about the disease, how it spreads, and the relative risks of various activities... you have to take your mask off to consume anything in a restaurant, liquids are what make drink and food, the social experience puts humans in close proximity, the ventilation is the worst airflow people are likely experiencing outside their own homes or their workplace if they’re essential or ordered back. I love to eat out. I wouldn’t dream of sitting in a restaurant right now.

There are a lot of restaurants I could dream of sitting in at this time. We have great restaurants where I live.

It boils down to personal risk valuation and the risk you are willing to impose on others. Remember, this isn’t the plague, especially if you are young. Avoid oldsters (as if you hang out around them anyway, you punks).

The old? Older wait staff, etc. are probably the biggest concern for me. They really are on the front line. If they can’t be protected, then something needs to happen.

Older patrons most likely accept the risk as just one more risk of aging...among many. If they’re living by themselves or just a partner? Remember there are a lot of other infectious diseases out there, and we’ve let people manage their own risks up to now.

Care home? Probably not.

This pandemic has really done a lot to reveal the information bubbles we all live in. Case in point: discussion about indoor v.s. outdoor activity risk was everywhere I looked back in April/May, whereas the author makes it clear that wasn't the case for them.

Do we have any resources which are aimed at helping people inform themselves of the risks associated with some choice they need to make? For example, sufficient information in just three areas could have made every relevant personal choice I've faced since March clear cut:

- Risks (death, hospitalization, long-term side-effects) _by demographic_.

- % chance of transmission for various common interactions (passing someone on the sidewalk, stopping to chat with someone on the sidewalk, grocery shopping, eating/drinking indoors/outdoors, etc).

- % spread by asymptomatic carriers v.s. symptomatic carriers.

Caveats abound, but I bet a skilled designer could find a way to present this information in an honest way which takes < 15 minutes to digest.

I'm going to keep eating at restaurants.

EDIT: It's a more pleasant experience to eat outside anyways. Hopefully the warm days will continue for another few weeks in the Northeast.

"Think of it as evolution in action." -Jerry Pournelle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q5kwu-1924&ab_channel=TheLi...

I'll take my chances.

Governments mandate closing by X time or mandate masks while not seated... of course to minimize risk and spread. These same governments don't mandate closing the restaurant completely for... the economy? I'm not left or right on this COVID issue, just interested in these arbitrary restrictions.

They’re either making the best of the worst situation (can’t mandate closure, can’t fund relief for the people who depend on the income) or cynical (“efforts”), often some of both. Still better than the defiance of refusing any restrictions.

Could it be argued it's the worst of both worlds? Virus still spreads, restaurants are forced to heavily reduce customer numbers and pay for new anti COVID measures. Decreased restaurant revenue and increased COVID numbers?

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