Is it safe to dine out with coronavirus in our midst? As safe as it always is

Coronavirus should not directly affect your decision to dine out.

Amid the spread of COVID-19, restaurants continue to follow standard food safety measures, enforced by local health departments and routine inspections, according to county, state and federal agencies. Additionally, there have been no reports of the virus being spread through food or food packaging, according to the most recent supply chain update on Feb. 27 from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Commissioner Stephen Hahn emphasized the importance of everyday food safety measures, including regular washing of hands and surfaces, keeping raw meat separate from other foods, cooking to safe temperatures and refrigerating perishable foods promptly.

When reached for comment, an FDA spokesperson referred The News Tribune to this guidance as well as updates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Further food supply updates would be shared immediately on the FDA website.

The virus — now confirmed in more than a third of U.S. states — originated in a Wuhan food market in China’s Hubei province, but the food thread stops there. It is primarily spread through close contact with an infected person. The CDC adds that it “may be possible” to contract the virus through an infected surface or object — and then touching your nose, mouth or possibly eyes. Though experts are still learning about this novel strain, that scenario is less likely.

It’s relatively safe to receive a package, for instance, from an area with confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization. The CDC explains the same on its FAQ page: “There is likely a very low risk of spread from food products or packaging that are shipped over a period of days or weeks at ambient, refrigerated, or frozen temperatures.”

CORONAVIRUS OR NOT, RESTAURANTS STICK TO FOOD SAFETY

Should you be wary of visiting a restaurant?

No, said Anne-Marie Gloster, a culinary and nutrition science lecturer at the University of Washington in Seattle. But restaurants should be taking extra precautions, like using a brand-name sanitizer, for example, or wiping down menus in sight of customers.

“Restaurants need to go above and beyond to make customers feel safe,” Gloster said, adding that they should “engage with them over the topic.”

How the restaurant treats its employees matters, too. As an industry renowned for its lack of paid time off, restaurants should — especially in this outbreak — ensure that sick employees stay home.

There is no federal paid leave policy, but Washington’s 2018 sick leave law allows workers, including seasonal and part-time, to earn an hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked.

The National Restaurant Association’s simple guidance, aggregated from government health agencies, also mentions this precaution. The Washington Hospitality Association, a trade group with some 6,000 members ranging from restaurants to hotels to bowling alleys, offered similar guidance.

“We’re really just best practices right now,” said Jillian Henze, senior communications manager at the hospitality group. “If anything changes, we will be sure to let our members know.”

As a customer, “go to places that you feel good about and don’t be afraid to ask,” said Gloster. “A restaurant is only as good as the people who are staffing it.”

LOW RISK IN PIERCE COUNTY

At the Pierce County Health Department, director of communications Edie Jeffers said, “Our guidance is to continue to go about your life. Wash your hands, exercise good hygiene — that’s where we are.”

She added that her team is “consistently emphasizing messages of food safety” at restaurants, not the least of which is regular handwashing.

“A lot of focus is on handwashing right now, and that is a terrific thing,” she told The News Tribune in a phone call. “It’s unfortunate that it takes something kind of mysterious and not completely understood to get people to focus on a basic hygiene practice we should be doing every single day, all the time.”

Gloster agreed this heightened awareness is a “great reminder.”

Reached for comment on March 3, a spokesperson for the Washington Department of Health repeated much of the same, pointing to the information posted prominently on its website. There, residents can find resources on handling COVID-19 specific to groups and venues, such as parents and caretakers, schools and senior centers.

Aside from “workplaces,” restaurants are notably missing from this list. Another DOH spokesperson said the department would continue to build and update these group-specific pages, but that a foodservice guide was still in progress.

Still, in Pierce County, Jeffers said residents should heed “local, reliable sources of information” with facts “relevant for our community right now.”

The News Tribune also reached out to the department of health in King County, where a majority of the deaths linked to coronavirus in the U.S. have occurred, to understand its guidance for restaurants. As of March 11, the agency has added specific guidance for restaurants, which largely follows general rules of thumb such as handwashing and providing ample hand sanitizer. It also recommends changing sanitizing solutions in spray bottles every four hours; potentially closing self-serve stations like buffets, salad bars and condiment dispensers; and moving at-risk workers to “non-public-contact” roles.

It does, however, share advice for reducing stigma in disease outbreaks such as this one. Rely on the facts, show compassion, and avoid assuming health status based on someone’s ethnicity or race.

*This article was updated on March 11 to reflect guidance for restaurants from the King County health department.

This story was originally published March 4, 2020 at 9:13 AM.