Indoor Dining and COVID-19: Implications for Reopening in 30 U.S. Cities
Policy Brief
September 2020
This brief is part of a partnership between the Drexel Urban Health Collaborative and the Big Cities Health Coalition to support and contribute to the Coalition's vision of healthy, more equitable cities through big city innovation and leadership. This is the first in a series of briefs linking data and policy at the local level. While this brief reports on policies in the 30 member cities of BCHC, it does not reflect the position of the Coalition or its membership.
Background and Purpose
After several months of strictly limiting restaurants to delivery, take-out, and curb-side pickup services, cities across the U.S. have begun to allow food establishments to offer on-site dining.
Without federal regulations, decisions on reopening are left to municipal and state governments. As a result, the timing of reopening has varied significantly across the country. Cities in Texas opened indoor dining facilities on May 1st while cities like Chicago, Oakland, and Denver waited until late June and early July. There are some cities where indoor dining has yet to reopen. In the cities that allow indoor dining, both the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established guiding principles for reopening to encourage restaurants and bars to operate safely.1 The guiding principles, which are intended to supplement any state or local regulations, fall into the following four categories:Social Distancing
- Limit seating capacity
- Change dining area layout to keep parties at least 6 fix apart
- Increase circulation of outdoor air by opening windows and prioritizing outdoor seating
Food Safety/Hygiene
- Avoid offering self-serve
- Disinfect frequently touched surfaces at least daily
- Physical barriers at pickup windows and cash registers
- Ensure adequate supplies: soap, hand sanitize, disinfect wipes, masks, no-touch trash cans
- Routine cleaning schedule
Employee Wellness
- Encourage sick or potentially infected employees to stay home
- Require frequent employee handwashing
- Require the use of cloth face coverings among all staff
- Establish flexible work schedules for employees
Operations
- Reduce the use of shared items (menus, condiments, utensils)
- Use touchless payment options when available
- Post signs and messages that promote safe customer practices
Since March, state and local governments have worked with businesses to ensure that precautions are taken for the safety of their residents. Simultaneously, cities are eager to sustain and rebuild local businesses after months of economic distress. With many food establishments forced to shutter or transition to takeout only service, the pandemic has led to widespread job loss in the restaurant industry. Local governments’ handling of this balance between the health of their residents and the strength of their economy has varied significantly across the U.S, depending on state guidance, local regulation, and rates of community transmission of COVID-19.
Analysis
Among the 30 member jurisdictions cities that comprise the Big Cities Health Coalition (BCHC), all but four cities moved into phases of reopening that include indoor dining at restaurants between late April and early July. Some of these cities have since rolled back indoor dining due to an increase in cases and hospitalizations. While restaurants in Texas could reopen indoor dining areas at the beginning of May, other cities like Boston, D.C., Chicago, Oakland, and Denver waited until late June or early July (see Figure 1).2
Read the full brief Indoor Dining and COVID-19 : Implications for Reopening In 30 U.S. Cities [PDF] which charts new COVID case rates in select metro areas that have opened indoor dining compared to those that have not opened indoor dining.