Nicole Stafford is an area freelancer with a background in health care legislation and policy. She also has about a decade of experience in the restaurant industry.
By Nicole Stafford
Venturing outdoors for restaurant takeout that reminds us of the world we inhabited before sounds like a wonderful – and terrifying – idea.
But health experts say pickup or delivery from a restaurant is a relatively safe activity to undertake during the coronavirus outbreak, provided the consumer takes proper precautions.
If you can't have a gloved butler, you can still have a safe meal made by someone else. (Photo: DepositPhotos)
“I think it’s safe,” said Dr. Dennis K. Chernin, medical director for two Michigan county public health departments.
There is no evidence that transmission occurs through food, said Beaumont Health’s Director of Infectious Disease Research, Dr. Michael Sims. Furthermore, if hot food is cooked to the proper temperature, the virus dies; and stomach acid is believed to kill it as well, he said.
Both Oakland and Wayne counties are taking measures to ensure transmission does not occur at businesses that may remain open under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s shelter-in-place order, including restaurants. Oakland County issued its own order Tuesday, requiring that businesses screen employees daily for virus symptoms and send sick workers home. Wayne County does not plan a similar measure, but “we have our health inspectors out making calls, taking a look and checking to see who’s open and if they should be,” said Bill Nowling, Wayne County Executive Office spokesperson.
“In the spirit of community and from what we can tell,” restaurants in operation in Wayne County are self-enforcing,” he said.
Mitigate the risk
Public health officials’ two chief concerns about restaurant takeout are in-person contact and transmission through its packaging, said Sims.
To address the first concern, apply social distancing, both Sims and Chernin said.
Maintain six feet of distance between you and any restaurant employee when picking up food. If possible, pay by credit card prior to food pickup. If you’re concerned about the restaurant’s practices, call and request no in-person contact, instructing the restaurant to place your food outside the front door.
Ideally, order food for delivery. With a service like Uber Eats, users can select no in-person contact and get digital notification after the delivery driver has dropped the order on their front porch and left the area, eliminating human interaction altogether.
To reduce the risk of transmission from food packaging, Sims recommends a series of steps, emphasizing that two sets of handwashing must occur, each for 20 seconds with soap and water:
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Place the bag of takeout food on your kitchen counter and open the boxes.
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Wash your hands.
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Take out a serving bowl or plate, pour or place the food in serving receptacles.
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Throw out the packaging.
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Again, wash your hands.
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Sanitize the counter and any other surfaces you touched after handling the packaging and before handwashing.
One last piece of advice: Decide for yourself whether the risk of takeout food from a particular restaurant on a particular day is one you want to take. Then, make this process a habit for any activity you undertake that risks exposure to people or the virus.
“Every choice that you make comes together as a blanket of protection for that person,” said University of Michigan’s director of the history of medicine, Dr. Howard Markel, at a COVID discussion with public health experts.
“The point is there is a lot you can do from your home. If you don’t need to be out of your house, don’t go outside your home,” Sims said.
