21
PGthe washington post.
friday, march 13, 2020ful — and coronavirus threat or
no, diners should always be aware
of the potential for cross-contam-
ination from objects at their ta-
bles, said Dawn Anderson, chair
of the Department of Public &
Allied Health at Bowling Green
University. S he conducted a study
of fecal bacteria found on the
menus, ketchup bottles and salt
shakers at a few bar-and-grill-
style restaurants in her area and
found that at least one strain of
such bacteria was present on ev-
ery ketchup bottle and most
menus.
Wen said the virus can lurk in
these places. Both she and An-
derson say diners should wash
their hands throughout their
meals. “The advice is not ‘don’t
touch anything,’ it’s ‘wash your
hands after you touch things,’ ”
she said.Delivery can be safer, but...
Getting your favorite eatery’s
dishes delivered to your door is
one way to limit your exposure to
other people. The CDC advice to
high-risk people in virus-struck
areas includes: “Consider ways of
getting food brought to your
house through family, social or
commercial networks.”
Ta king the avoiding-people
route a step further, food-delivery
service Postmates recently intro-
duced new drop-off options, in-
cluding a “no contact” one in
which customers can request that
the delivery is left at their doors.
Still, there is a chance that the
person handling your delivery
could have transmitted it to the
packaging.
Kathy Hollinger, the chief exec-
utive of the Restaurant Associa-
tion of Metropolitan Washington,
said she is helping to spread the
directive from the National Res-
taurant Association that restau-
rant workers should keep an eye
out. “We’re saying that if a deliv-
ery driver looks sick, there should
be judgment used about whether
the food should be given to them,”
she said.The bottom line? Use
common sense, be observant
— and ask questions.
Lynch said that if diners feel
uncertain about the measures a
restaurant is taking to minimize
risk, they should ask a manager.
And if they want something
wiped down before they touch it,
like a credit card or a menu, they
should ask.
Berkowitz echoed that advice.
“If there’s any trepidation, diners
should feel free to ask,” he said,
whether it’s what the restaurant
uses to disinfect with or what’s
going on in the back of the house.
“If the server can’t a nswer, maybe
they find a manager or someone
who can — but if they slough it off,
that’s not an appropriate re-
sponse.”
[email protected]
[email protected]ganization is advising member
restaurants across the country to
make sure that members of their
staffs aren’t reporting to work
sick and that they have plans in
place for how to deal with work-
ers showing any type of cold or
flu-like symptoms.
Iricanin said the operation’s
280 employees have been told
through emails and in meetings
to stay home if they are sick. They
are also being instructed to alert
their managers to fellow employ-
ees or customers who might be.
CapitalSpring, an investment
firm that owns thousands of res-
taurants, including Ta co Bell and
Wendy’s franchises, told CNBC
that it is offering its employees
talking points to deal with cus-
tomers or fellow employees they
suspect of being ill.
Patrons should be aware that
they could be the ones spreading
the virus, and Lynch said he is
recommending that restaurants
offer guests hand sanitizer and
tissues.And, possibly, everything else.
Not all restaurants are as care-‘We disinfect with peroxide,’ it
might be now,” he said.It’s not the food, it’s the
people.
There’s no indication, health
officials say, that the coronavirus
can be transmitted on food. Wen
notes that the virus does not
appear to be orally transmitted.
Rather, it is a respiratory illness
spread through droplets — from a
person’s sneeze, for example —
that are then transmitted
through the nostrils or eyes of
someone else.
That means you’re not any
more at risk in a restaurant than
in other public places, like on
public transit or in retail stores.
“In fact, there may be less risk
because the risk is the number of
people you are in contact with
and in close proximity to,” Wen
said. “The number of people who
come into close proximity to you
on a crowded bus is far more.”
One of the biggest concerns
that diners cite is encountering
restaurant workers who might be
sick. Lynch, of the National Res-
taurant Association, said his or-probably doesn’t have a lot of the
virus on it, she said, meaning you
wouldn’t b e able to spread it from
your hands to the takeout box and
your wallet and your credit card
and the point-of-sale system. “It’s
not going to go on indefinitely,”
she said. “The big risk is that it’s
on the spoon, and you touch that,
then you touch your face — or you
touch your phone which later
touches your face.”
Roger Berkowitz, the president
and chief executive of Boston-
based Legal Sea Foods, said that
sanitation has long been a big
priority for his company — it has
its own in-house food inspectors
who conduct surprise visits — it’s
just not one that it has wanted to
show off to consumers. “There’s
always a conundrum: We d o these
things behind the scenes, and it’s
hard to convey that in an appetiz-
ing way,” he said. “So instead of,
‘We test for fecal coliform!’ ” we’ll
talk about the ‘purity’ o f the prod-
uct.”
That might change, he said, as
public fears grow. “If there was a
time that the public might be
open to hearing a message like,use fresh cleaning cloths, and
they are circulating the Environ-
mental Protection Agency’s new
list of disinfectants that are effec-
tive against the coronavirus.
Lynch said diners should take
comfort in the fact that restau-
rants have been meeting food
safety and sanitation standards
for decades, so they already have
protocols in place.
Regardless, restaurants and
chains are implementing new
procedures to deal with potential
contamination. At McDonald’s,
for example, operators have in-
creased the number of hand-sani-
tizer dispensers at entrances and
in the waiting areas of their res-
taurants. They are also disinfect-
ing trays, dining room tables and
chairs after each use. They have
even increased the frequency of
cleaning and sanitizing high-
touch surfaces such as doors,
kiosks, touch screens, restrooms
and more. They h ave also remind-
ed employees to stay home when
sick.
“The health and well-being of
our people, our customers and
our communities is our highest
priority and drives our decision-
making. As we proactively moni-
tor the impact of the coronavirus,
we are continuously evaluating
our policies to provide flexibility
and reasonable accommoda-
tions,” a McDonald’s spokesper-
son said in a statement to The
Washington Post.
Ivan Iricanin, whose Street
Guys Hospitality group operates
more than a dozen eateries in the
Washington area, including Am-
bar, said that his restaurants have
increased the frequency of wipe-
downs and that management met
with the cleaning services they
employ to make sure they were
equipped — basically, just a
stepped-up version of their day-
to-day vigilance.
“It’s business as usual,” he said.
“But we’re doing our best to stay
on top of our game.”
Hot bars and buffets remain a
particular concern for diners
such as Tillipman. At Wegmans,
the supermarket chain with loca-
tions throughout the Mid-Atlan-
tic and New England, hot-bar
customers always have the option
of preparing their own meals or
purchasing premade ones. Every-
thing on the hot bar and cold bar
can be purchased in package
form, too, said Deana Percassi,
director of public relations for
Wegmans.
“We’re watching as sales come
in. We’re watching what custom-
ers are preferring,” Percassi adds.
“We’re preparing more for a push
for the package foods.”
Aubree Gordon, an associate
professor in the University of
Michigan’s School of Public
Health, said diners should be
mindful of buffets and come pre-
pared with hand sanitizer or
plans to wash their hands. Even a
contaminated buffet utensil
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