LA County is publishing lists of restaurants where employees hzve tested positive. I would imagine this would be the kiss of death and should spur restaurants to monitor employees health carefully.
I am fine with not eating out when I am home. It’s unnecessary. But I will be traveling to see my kids and dad after the lockdown is over. I am thinking I will get take out and eat outside or in my hotel room.
Speaking of hotels, I will be disinfecting everything in the room myself and avoiding anywhere people congregate like the lobby or the restaurant.
There’s a very interesting article about Prune a tiny restaurant in New York City. She had tiny tables close together. She’s realizing that for her it wasn’t just about the food, but about the community. She’s actually feeling like if she can reopen she’d rather have bigger communal tables. May be behind a paywall: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/magazine/closing-prune-restaurant-covid.html
The place where my husband works had to close for two weeks due to C19 working its way through the BOH employees.
I posted elsewhere that it appears to have started with one of four employees – some of the four live together, and the four car-pooled to work.
H & I counted a total of 15 people infected. Employees plus known household members of employees. There could have been more transmissions. Only one person was tested and came back positive for C19.
IMO, sick people really need a way to isolate themselves away from the people they live with.
I was very surprised to catch it from H, as I thought we were being careful and there are only two of us in a 1800 sq foot home, plus separate bedrooms. In hindsight, we were not hypervigilant until we knew for sure he was infected.
Who knows how many days he was shedding virus before he began to feel ill.
Restaurants doing take out are saving on labor both for serving the food and cleaning the restaurant. They can control things like napkin use, condiments, making ice for drinks, etc. They are losing money on people ordering desserts (‘just one to share’), extra drinks, appetizers.
I think the casual and places with a window are doing just as much business as they usually do. We have a family restaurant here (but with higher prices) and my brother still orders his prime rib dinner from there about every 10 days and spends the $25 (and knowing him he leaves the same 20% tip), but if he eats in the restaurant he’ll order appetizers, soup, and a coke. So the restaurant is losing about $10-15 on him, but savings all that labor money (and the owner is probably taking the tip).
Places like McDonald’s are doing fine. Higher end restaurants aren’t bringing in the money. Everyone complained about Ruth’s Chris taking the SBA money so they gave it back. That means their employees are now on unemployment and not the SBA money. This is actually worse for states as the state pays the unemployment money and the feds just put in the $600 extra through July.
That is part of the reason why poor people tend to be at greater risk. Poor people are likely to pack more people into a given size residence, so they may not be able to designate a part of it as a quarantine area if one household member gets sick.
IMO, it’s fantasyland that all employers will use the PPP so all employees will be making what they were making pre-closure. For example, we don’t need a single server, hostess, bus boy or dishwasher right now during the closure.
Being on UI with the extra $600 could allow some families to sock more money away for the bad months coming up when the economy begins to re-open but things do not bounce back right away.
But businesses that got the SBA money have to pay the employees with that money (or at least a percentage of them and a percentage of the money). Yes, the restaurant many not need the servers or bus boys if they aren’t open, but the have to pay them with the SBA money. Now, those employees are pushed to unemployment which is a state program, plus the $600. And that’s if they qualify. The employees may have been paid by the SBA money but won’t be paid with by unemployment if they can’t qualify.
My neighbor is the GM for a local upscale restaurant we used to frequent often. They now offer a takeout option on Friday & Saturday. Tonight it’s service for 2 and each course comes with heating/serving instructions, all for $189 + tax. They offer no contact pick up. My wife’s birthday is coming up in May. Perhaps I’ll splurge if that week’s prix fixe menu would appeal to her.
Miami Beach just announced plans to re-open restaurants at a date TBD.
outdoor seating only, 50% capacity, tables distant from each other. Additional
cleaning etc… Should be interesting to say the least. They are also re-opening gyms with no more then 10 people inside at a time.
Given the incubation period for the virus, the close contact between spouses, and how easily it’s transmitted, it’s likely you’re already infected by the time you know your SO has it.
@cptofthehouse Mr R is getting the $600. It’s automatic in MI if you’re approved for unemployment. Averaged out with the weeks we only got unemployment and we’re still not making as much as we would if he was working - which is fine. Throwing it out only because there’s chatter going around that people are making more than they would if they were working. (Are some? Absolutely. But not most and many people are also spending more thanks to needing grocery deliveries and whatnot. I digress.)
My sister is also getting it despite not qualifying for regular unemployment. She went back to work just a few months ago after being off for a year after the birth of my nephew. So she hadn’t made enough yet to qualify for unemployment.
There are a lot of restaurants willing (and wanting to) re-open to full capacity. Since restaurants are permitted to open for take-out only, I have friends and family who were called back to work.
They are not given hazard pay. Paid minimum wage and tips*. Some receive a lot of tips and are very thankful to customers who tip; but I do know of some people that don’t leave a cent despite placing large orders. Tip amount varies on the establishment, location, and business environment.
I was surprised to learn how many people order take-out.
However, there are other situations that have been mentioned on this forum. For example, if the household has a college student returning from college. Or someone who cancelled his/her rental housing lease in anticipation of entering military service or a new job elsewhere that has now been delayed or cancelled. Or someone who is no longer able to afford to live on his/her own due to job loss and moves back to the parents’ empty nest. People with big houses may be able to isolate them for some time in a quarantine area of the house. But poor people are unlikely to have houses big enough to do so.
