Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
By Samuel Stanton
In Western Washington restaurants have recently been allowed to reopen with limited indoor dining to maintain social distancing. The last year has been very difficult for restaurants and the hospitality industry. The closure is justified from a public health standpoint. On the other hand, many local businesses have been forced to close or downsize due to Coronavirus restrictions and the question must be asked, is the cure worse than the virus itself? If restaurants are closing down and the local economy could be flourishing but it is being restrained by bureaucrats sitting in a nice office in Olympia making decisions that only affect others and not themselves.
The first study to portray the obvious correlation between restaurant openings and the spread of COVID-19 was published by John Hopkins University, using data on credit card spending by 30 million customers in the United States and correlating it to the evolution of the pandemic in each state. The relationship was clear: the more spending on restaurants, the greater the number of infections. (Forbes) It is obvious that the virus will spread more quickly in areas where people are close together the virus can spread more easily. Restaurants, gyms, cafes, and other crowded indoor venues likely accounted for some eight in 10 new infections in the early months of the U.S. coronavirus epidemic, according to a new analysis that used cellphone mobility data from 10 U.S. cities from March to May. Crowded areas are indefinitely where the virus is transmitted at high rates but can be prevented with social distancing and wearing masks.
On the other hand, nearly 2,500 restaurants in Washington state permanently closed their doors during the first six months of the pandemic, though researchers with the Washington Hospitality Association say that number is likely higher. To close all the restaurants and bars in a whole state and force many of them into closure is preposterous even Dr. Anthony Fauci, testified to congress in March that the mortality rate is as low as 1%. To shutdown the whole state and treat rural Okanogan the same as Seattle is foolish. It would be more logical for the state government to suggest to citizens who are high risk to wear a mask or stay home but to argue that mask mandates that apply to young people who are at virtually no danger of the virus is ill-advised. Even though young people can asymptomatic they still transmit the virus in a fraction of those who are more in the higher risk category. Taking into consideration the reward of reopening and the risk of the less than 1% morality rate obviously the reward is higher to reopen rather than shutdown.
Alex Ayon owns the Farmers Café, a restaurant in Stanwood, WA which was closed in the beginning of the pandemic due to restrictions. Ayon said, “I saw the casinos that were open and other businesses that were open, and it did not seem reasonable.” During the closure he provided delivery and pick up during the closure but was still only running at 30-40% capacity “It was scary” Ayon said. At one point Ayon had to shut down because one of his employees tested positive and being shut down completely for a whole week Saturday to Saturday really hurt his business. He said they also take as many precautions as possible, all employees wear masks, clean all high traffic areas, masks provided for customers, and a contactless payment system through their new app. Ayon added, “The app definitely helped because people felt safer paying with the app and just picking up at our drive through window.” Ayon’s main goal was to maintain his reputation with his customers and his employees so that when he can reopen, he was ready for his business to start growing again.” He hopes that he can reopen soon so that his loyal customers can once again enjoy his food without all the barriers and restrictions.
In summary there are reasons to restrict businesses to keep people who are in a high risk category safe and to keep the case level down to not over crowd emergency services. There are also safe ways to dine indoors and those methods include wearing masks and social distancing. But the argument to stay open is far greater than the argument to shut down, amount of drug and alcohol abuse due to shut down or the number of people who have lost their livelihood is a tragedy on its own. In other words, the damage caused by the shutdown is greater than the damage the virus itself has caused to American society. Public health officials have gotten into a situation where the solution is worse than the virus itself. Looking back, it is easy to speculate the best solution for the virus, the age old saying does hold true, hindsight is 2020.
