Dining in Restaurants Increases COVID-19 Risk

Dining in restaurants increases a person's risk of getting COVID-19, according to a new study conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC report was released on Thursday, September 10, while several states consider letting restaurants start opening.

Adults who were confirmed to have COVID-19 were twice as likely to have dined at a restaurant 14 days before experiencing the symptoms as compared to those who tested negative.

Besides dining in restaurants, COVID-19 confirmed patients are also more likely to have visited a bar or a coffee shop among a group with no close contact with COVID-19 positive patients.

According to CNN, data for the CDC study included those taken from 314 adults who were made to take a test because they said they were showing symptoms of COVID-19.

The tests were done at 11 different health care facilities across 10 U.S. states, namely: California, Washington, Colorado, Utah, Tennessee, Maryland, Ohio, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Minnesota.

Of the 314 tested, 154 yielded positive, while 160 were negative of the SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.

The respondents were asked questions about the wearing of masks and their recently done activities in the community.

Of the 154 who tested positive, 42 percent came into contact with at least one person confirmed to have COVID-19, and 51 percent of those close contacts were members of their family.

The study also found that 71 percent of those with COVID-19 and 74 percent of those who tested negative adhered to wearing a face-covering in public.

Researchers also found that both groups went shopping, went to the office, visited the gym, gathered in a home with fewer than ten people, used public transportation, and visited the salon.

That is except for one thing, those who tested positive went dining in restaurants, according to a report on NBC News.

This makes sense, according to associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Dr. Todd Rice, who co-authored the report because it is easy to wear a mask or adhere to social distancing in all the other places mentioned above than in a restaurant.

The study though, has some limitations because it did not distinguish if dining in restaurants was done indoors or outdoors.

COVID-19 infections in restaurants have been linked to air circulation.

Researchers said even if masks are worn, and social distancing is followed, ventilation, direction, and intensity of airflow might still affect the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2.

According to an article on Med Page Today, researchers have concluded that before allowing restaurants to open, stringent guidelines must be followed in implementing safe practices to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 for the protection of all in the community.

Because dining in restaurants is risky compared to other community activities, people must take extra precautions, especially since states are now lifting restrictions in restaurant operation.

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