What you should know about indoor dining amid the delta variant

[Mme. Defarge]

As Americans again grapple with the question of whether they should dine out, public health experts and epidemiologists agree on one thing: There is no such thing as zero risk. There are only degrees of risk, no matter your vaccination status or the damage the delta variant has done to your community.

Saskia Popescu, infectious-disease epidemiologist and assistant professor at George Mason University, likes to frame the question as a risk assessment. She says you should look at three factors before deciding whether you should dine at a restaurant: your vaccination status, the level of coronavirus transmission in your community (as determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Data Tracker) and your personal risk assessment (are you immunocompromised or do you share your home with someone who is vulnerable or can’t be vaccinated yet?).

Popescu, for example, resides in Phoenix, in Maricopa County, where the transmission rate is high, “which really sucks,” she said, “because it’s 110 degrees outside.” She doesn’t feel like dining under the summer sun where a customer can feel as fried as a bucket of chicken.

“I really am just not leaning into dining indoors right now,” Popescu said. “Being indoors is a high-risk activity when you’re dining because you’re eating and you’re drinking. You have no mask on. There’s a bunch of other people whose vaccine status you don’t really know and who are also unmasked. You’re there for prolonged periods of time. I look at all of those, and that’s how I make an informed decision. So it’s not black-and-white.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/08/05/restaurants-indoor-dining-delta-variant/

[KentuckyWoman]

1. Common sense

I miss eat outs a lot but I will be avoiding it for the foreseeable future.

[BannonsLiver]

2. Don't do it. That's all that needs to be said.

I was surprised to learn that one of our most prolific Covid posters who often cautions others on their behavior regularly eats at restaurants. I haven’t been inside a restaurant since February 2020.

[lagomorph777]

8. Same here. I can't even imagine doing it.

[liberal_mama]

11. Yeah, no restaurant dining for me. I used to be a waitress and was constantly sick.

I was constantly infected with colds, flu, stomach viruses. Viruses spread fast in a restaurant. I've gotten takeout and delivery since the pandemic started, but I'm not brave enough to sit in a restaurant and eat.

[zuul]

14. No way in hell I would dine-in.

There’s no getting around the fact that your server has to stand over you multiple times during a meal, spewing Christ-knows-what over you. Even if they’re masked and vaccinated, I’m not taking that chance.

[Treefrog]

15. I can't remember the last time I went to eat out.

As you say, just not the wisest thing to do right now.

[marble falls]

3. Absolutely good common sense, a rare commity these days. It won't be over till it is over.

[SheltieLover]

5. Absofuckingloutely!

I went to an Asian buffet Monday. Git there at 11am. Place was empty & I requested seating far away from areas where others would be seated.

Shoveled in my food & got out before it got busy.

1st since Feb 2020 & last time for the foreseeable future.

[Tree Lady]

4. My doctor has told me from the beginning of this not to eat out

In or out, after vaccine she still said to stay out and now neither.

They know how easy it is for things to spread. And with my sinus issues and high blood pressure she knows how it would affect me.

I bet doctors are tired of watching their clients not follow advice.

I have eaten out a few times mostly outside but in May a few times inside when cases were down.

I feel sorry for restaurants and wonder how long they can stay in business.

[Mme. Defarge]

6. Interesting!

I have not eaten indoors at a restaurant since February 2020, but was was just starting to enjoy the outdoor dining scene when the phenomenon of breakthrough cases of delta became news. Of course I am fully vaccinated, but have multiple risk factors and have since shied away from outdoor dining wondering if it’s actually riskier than being portrayed.

[beaglelover]

21. What odd advice from a doctor. Maybe it was more tailored to your circumstances??

[JoanofArgh]

7. Thanks for posting this. After we got vaccinated and before Delta, we were

going out for lunch , dinner a couple times a week but we were going early before the restaurant got packed. Just checked our county and we'll be doing take out only for the time being.

[Tomconroy]

9. "I long ago came to the conclusion

that everything in life is six to five against" - Damon Runyon

My wife and I regularly go out to eat, generally outdoors because in CT it's nice.
We've been doing it since restaurants opened up, before there was a vaccine. The plus side then was there was hardly anyone else in the place. We wanted to support local businesses.
You assess the odds, you make your choice.

[BannonsLiver]

12. You're definitely helping local restaurants

We’re doing the same. We’ve been doing takeout exclusively from local businesses since it started.

[roamer65]

13. Take out time again!

[Chainfire]

16. As far as I am concerned, all public dining rooms are closed

Along with all other events that pack people in. If the right wants to mix and match viruses in restaurants, it is fine with me, but I don't intend to participate. I went for 14 months without doing it, and I seem to have suffered no ill effects from the decision; I can do another 14 months standing on my head...What fools like DeSantis don't realize is that the doesn't have the power he thinks he has to keep businesses open as normal.

[Klaralven]

17. First restaurant meal was in a McDonalds while traveling recently

Pretty empty, and we didn't stay long. We're vaccinated, and are masked except while eating. Used the ordering kiosk and they delivered the food to the table.

On the way home, we did take out.

[PortTack]

18. We started ordering for pick up. We take it to the park..not sure I'll ever go back to eating inside

Restaurants. The park: table for 2 by the water, geese and ducks squawking for entertainment, no noisy rude ppl at the next table. It’s great!

[FakeNoose]

19. Many restaurants in my area have a busy carry-out service

The ones that couldn't build up their carry-out during the last year are mostly closed for good. I try to patronize my favorite restaurants occasionally, but I only get carry-out. It's not worth the risk.

There are still a lot of mask-wearers in Pittsburgh, but I'm seeing fewer during the summer months.

[beaglelover]

20. We go out to eat 6 times a week and usually eat indoors. No biggie, we're both fully vaxed.

[maxsolomon]

22. During that magical part of July before Delta took off,

I went to visit my elderly father in Ohio. I have a vaccine, my wife has a vaccine, my Dad has a vaccine, his girlfriend has a vaccine, my siblings have a vaccine, their kids have a vaccine.

I went out to eat, maskless, indoors, probably 10 times. Lunch & Dinner. All around us the people of Cincinnati also dined unmasked. the restaurant workers were unmasked. It felt really strange, but also pretty great.

I went to an MLS game unmasked, along with >10,000 other people.

I didn't get sick. No one got sick.

We were about to win this, and now we're right back where we started, because of selfish, childish, petulant assholes.

[Raftergirl]

23. Haven't been inside dining since March 10, 2020

Met a friend for coffee at the coffee shop.

We have only dined once outside and that was about 6 weeks ago.

I won’t even do that anymore and I’m in a highly vaxxed community.

[tanyev]

24. I was stunned to see that my high school class is going ahead with a reunion

in late September. It’s a small town, so the main event is just getting together at a bar/restaurant for a few hours. I figured it had been called off or postponed because I hadn’t seen any posts about it in a while. Turns out Facebook was deciding which posts it thought I wanted to see. Effing Facebook. They had a post late July to vote on the preferred weekend and not one person responded with “Say, maybe we should wait until next year. It’s too dangerous to do this now.” This is year 40, so none of us have any room to be cocky. Needless to say, I will not be there.