Study Shows How Indoor Dining Can Spread COVID-19 (Even With Social Distancing)

Since the global coronavirus outbreak in 2020, social restrictions have been put in place to curb the spread of the virus.

If you think that wearing a mask and keeping a distance of 6 feet between tables is enough to protect you from catching COVID-19 at restaurants, then research might prove you wrong. According to the CDC, adults who have contacted COVID were twice as likely to have dined out in an enclosed restaurant, especially indoors. 

South Korean researchers have found that coronavirus can travel up to 18 feet in just 5 minutes if there is direct airflow from an air conditioning unit. Researchers based the study on a coronavirus outbreak in a restaurant back in June 2020.

An asymptomatic diner in Jeonju infected two other diners, including a school student, seated 21 feet away. Using CCTV footage and location tracking technology, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency traced this index case to the restaurant. 

Further investigation showed that the restaurant didn’t have a ventilation system or windows. Instead, they installed ceiling air conditioners which circulated in the directions of both the infected diners and the asymptomatic diner seated over six feet apart.

Despite having no interaction with the carrier, only the two people who faced the direction of airflow contracted the virus from droplets possibly transmitted by the air conditioning system. Other diners located away from the airflow escaped infection from this scene.

Dining out in a pandemic might be dangerous, but diners and restaurant owners are more interested in how to make eating out safer. This Standford-Northwestern study suggests limiting tables in restaurants based on the square footage available instead of the regular six-foot social distance setting.

With a new strain of coronavirus suspected in Nigeria and suspicious infections spreading all around Lagos, diners have to be extra aware of the danger of contracting the virus. It doesn’t help that the ventilation system in Lagos restaurants also hinges on air conditioning. Here, outdoor dining, air conditioning systems with anti germicide filters must be considered. Otherwise, it’s always safer to stay at home and order takeout as much as possible.