Some parts of the U.S. have begun reopening restaurants; others have not, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just released a new decision tool for restaurants and bars late last week.
The new tool is helpful from a customer’s perspective as it shares what you can look for to assure that establishments are up to CDC standards.
The guidance is broken down into two groups: one for health and safety and one for monitoring:
For the first group, keep an eye out for things like hand-washing stations and employees wearing face coverings. Additionally, restaurants and bars should “encourage social distancing and enhance spacing [through] spacing of tables/stools, limiting party sizes and occupancy, avoiding self-serve stations, restricting employee shared spaces, [and] rotating or staggering shifts, if feasible.”
“Monitoring” is harder for customers to observe. For instance, the CDC says bars and restaurant should “develop and implement procedures to check for signs and symptoms of employees daily upon arrival”, and the CDC repeatedly reinforces that sick employees—regardless of the illness—should stay home and that businesses should accommodate sick time though planning, communication, and flexible policies. Finally, the CDC also tells restaurants and bars to “regularly communicate and monitor developments with local authorities” and to “be ready to consult with the local health authorities if there are cases in the facility or an increase in cases in the local area".
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The Riverfront Times even had a recent artice about the NEW risks that service industry workers will be taking on as St. Louis slowly reopens...
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