Coronavirus: Restaurants and the Virus

When it comes to getting food at restaurants and this COVID-19 pandemic, I've probably gone to far more extreme lengths than others have. I have yet to do any outdoor dining. I wouldn't even consider indoor dining. When I get my food to go, I only go to restaurants where I don't have to go indoors to order. And when the spread of the virus increased after the holidays, I took January off from going to restaurants. I even take other precautions that I won't mention in this write-up, because anyone who comes across this will think me crazy.

One thing in the back of my mind through all this is: How do restaurants deal with outbreaks? Well,  the LA Times (Jan 13) recently reported on this, talking to a handful of restaurant owners who took some serious precautions. Yet, I don't exactly feel confident that all restaurants are doing the same, because it can be very expensive to deal with COVID-19.

The article talks with Zack Hall, owner of Clark Street Bread, which had an outbreak. Here's a quote about how expensive it was to deal with the outbreak:

Hall hired a service to deep-clean the bakery, put together his own COVID-19 protocols for employees and started to provide testing through a private service every couple of weeks. He closed the business for four days and spent $25,000 on closing, preparing to reopen and testing.

Also, it doesn't appear that restaurants can easily find out the procedures once there is an outbreak.

According to Eddie Navarrette, vice president of the Independent Hospitality Coalition, a group that advocates for hospitality businesses during the pandemic, there is a lack of transparency and communication on a state, county and city level, contributing to feelings of distrust and frustration among the restaurant community.

And the interesting fact is that through this all, restaurants are losing money.

Whether the restaurants are getting private or free county tests, they are continuing to lose money.

Oh well, I have a high level of doubt that all restaurants are implementing the same procedures that Clark Street Bread took. Spending $25,000 is a lot of money when you have to deal with the fact that you will likely still lose money. How many restaurant owners have that much money in their bank account or can borrow that much?