People who dine out are at twice the risk of catching COVID-19 than people who don’t, according to a new Centers for Disease Control report that is awful news for local economies and people who enjoy going out.
The data, however, makes no distinction between outdoor and indoor dining – and COVID-19 is much harder to spread when people are outside.
A case-control investigation of symptomatic outpatients from 11 American health care facilities found that close contact with persons with known COVID-19 or going to locations that offer on-site eating and drinking were associated with COVID-19 positivity, the report states.
Adults with positive COVID-19 test results were about twice as likely to have reported dining at a restaurant than were those with negative test results.
The CDC concluded that dining out “might be (an) important risk factor associated with infection.”
“Efforts to reduce possible exposure where mask use and social distancing are difficult to maintain such as when eating and drinking should be considered to protect customers, employees, and communities,” the report said.
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