Be Careful, Eating At Restaurants Has The Potential To Catch COVID-19 Compared To Salons

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JAKARTA - Eating outside of the home currently may have a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 than taking public transportation or getting a haircut at a salon.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States (CDC), highlighted the risks of activities when people are not always able to wear masks and practice social distancing, such as eating and drinking in restaurants.

For the purposes of the study, researchers analyzed information from 314 adults who tested for COVID-19 at one of 11 health care facilities across the United States.

All of the participants admitted to experiencing some of the symptoms for which they were tested. About half of the participants tested positive for COVID-19 while the other half were negative.

They were interviewed about the activities they did during the 14 days before symptoms appeared including going to a shop, gym, office, salon, bar or coffee shop; attending religious events, using public transportation or eating at restaurants.

Overall, people who tested positive for COVID-19 reported eating at restaurants twice as often in the 14 days before falling ill than people who tested negative.

Once the researchers excluded people who had contact with COVID-19 patients, they found that participants who were positive ate almost three times more often at restaurants, and nearly four times more often went to bars or coffee than those who tested negative.

No other activity from the survey was associated with an increased risk of COVID-19.

The authors note that one limitation of their study was not differentiating between eating indoors and outdoors.

"Exposure and activities when wearing masks and social distancing are difficult to maintain, including going to locations that offer on-site eating and drinking, may be important risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection," the researcher said. .

Health experts recommend tips to reduce your risk of catching COVID-19 while eating at restaurants, including wearing a mask when not eating and maintaining a distance of 1.8 meters from people who do not live with you; sit outside if possible, and call ahead of time to ask if all staff at the restaurant wear masks while working.