Can Enclosed Outdoor Dining Really Be Safe?

But first, here's what happened in virus News today. Visor and bio en Tech are requesting emergency authorization of their COVID vaccine today. It could take at least three weeks for the US Food and Drug Administration to make its decision. Studies show the vaccine is effective and doesn't have any

major safety issues. It could be the first vaccine leaguered for use, and the first doses could be administered as early as December, but first FDA staff and outside advisors must thoroughly vet the trial data provided by the company. In the US, the virus is still raging unchecked. Almost twelve percent of all hospital beds in US hospitals were occupied by COVID nineteen patients on November. That's the most since April twelve, according to the US Department of Health

and Human Services. Finally, in Europe, there are some signs that lockdown measures are beginning to curb the virus spread. France's Prime Minister said curfew and lockdown measures to keep the pandemic in check are produced sing effects, and that if things stay on this track, small stores could reopen in early December. In England, the infection rate continues to rise, but the pace of increase has leveled off in recent

weeks and now for today's main story. Restaurants across the country have been building and using outdoor dining spaces since the summer, but as winter approaches, many establishments are converting them into sheds or tents to help keep customers warm. As reporter Kristen V. Brown reports, these new structures can sometimes feel more indoors than outdoors. We wondered how safe they really are for patrons. It's a chilly forty reas on a Monday evening in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and the

local restaurant, Miriam, is mostly empty. Several little individual dining rooms sit just outside the front of the restaurant. They share a tin roof and are separated by plastic panels. Owner Raphael has Seat says they're like capsules. They may be outdoors, but they're enclosed, forming their own private space. So people will basically sit kind of indoor, but just by their own table. So we'll close everything around them

and put heaters, Raphael says. Miriam debuted its new winter dining area just a few days ago, and he says it seems to be working sure enough. Even at five PM on a cold evening, several of its tables fill up. People love it. People love if they you know, it's it's pretty, it's comfortable, it's you know, you don't feel their wings, so it's nice to see people that are very happy about it. Structures like this have been popping

up all over the country, including New York City. Some establishments have taken the capsule approach, like Miriam, where each table is enclosed in its own structure. Others have built giant, shared outdoor dining rooms. Some of these spaces present the same risks as indoor dining. For example, entirely enclosed structures could block airflow and allow particles containing the virus to linger. Lindsay Marr is an engineer who studies airborne transmission at

Virginia Tech. She says the safety of many of these spaces is somewhere between indoor and outdoor dining. If the air is fairly stagnant, it's not windy conditions, then things could certainly kind of be trapped a bit by the three walls and the roof of that tent. The best way to think about it is imagine that everyone is smoking a mini cigarette, and you know, if it's windy and let's good air flow through there, then that smoke will be kind of removed quickly and I won't build up.

Lindsay says there are ways for restaurants to balance keeping their customers warm as well as safe a roof, two walls, and continuing to follow the other protocols, like making sure tables are spaced apart and people are wearing masks when they're not eating, But she says she would be unlikely to eat in one of these tents. Yes, if nobody else were there, or if there were very very few

other people there, just my my household, I would. I wouldn't do it with people outside my household, clearly, though others aren't quite as discouraged. A Bonnie's grill on Fifth Avenue, Leo and Montrell have just finished up their meals. They declined to share their last names. Here's Leo. This is my only fourth foray since March. Being eating outdoors, bonnie set up has three walls enclosed with table space six ft or so apart. Leo says that so far he's

only eating outside. They both say measures like spacing out tables and good ventilation made them a lot more comfortable, but Montrel says he would eat indoors or out. Well, I've done. I've done both and over the past few months because I work in hospital and think cat of the covids is stressful. So like if this Messican restaurant and Winsbrook, I have eaten inside and it's nice, but they have to keep both ends of the doors open like MoMA, just the outside of the cold wind and

stuff are coming in. But I think as it gets colder, they need to open more capacity for indoor dining. Wild another Fifth Avenue restaurant, Tony is having a date night out with his wife. They're sitting in a fairly enclosed dining tent near the entrance. They were the only ones there. We decided to eat outside because there was only another couple here at the time, and now we're the only couple here at the time. Right yeah, Yeah, that's a

great comfort right there. That's a great thing right there, only says anytime he wants to eat out, he assesses each restaurant set up carefully. They were seated right next to the entrance of the dining tent, and he says that was on purpose. Well, my thing is this. I like it that this area right here is open, and I feel a lot more comfortable if this weren't closed and it was like maybe a flap to come in or just a small enclosure to come in. I don't

know if I feel that comfortable about it. Raphael, the restaurant owner, says he decided to build individual outdoor dining rooms because it seemed like the best balance of comfort and safety for his customers. He just doesn't think New Yorkers will keep eating outside all winter long. His spaces will not only block out the wind, but also feature heating, and for those who perhaps didn't dress warmly enough, he even offers a blanket on the menu for four dollars.

We Steve want to live, you know, like this all opening open for it to come in and out. It's definitely not hundred and closed there. You know, it's wooden plastic. We say sanitized, and we you know, we do all the necessary things too for the surface of things, and I believe it's safe, really safe. Profile also says he didn't want to rely too heavily on business from indoor dining in New York. It's allowed for now, but the city's case rate is climbing and that might mean another shutdown.

We are lucky to be so established and proactive about everything, so I have a really good feeling that we survived. But I can see how you know, I don't know the percentage, but I really believe that after this winter, it will be a you know, a very sad picture of seeing so much restaurant they didn't make it. Even if it's a bit chilly. Dining outdoors is just simply the safer option. But a blanket on the menu not

a bad idea. That was Kristin V. Brown with additional reporting from Emma Court, and that's it for our show today. For coverage of the outbreak from one hundred and twenty bureaus around the world. Visit Bloomberg dot com, slash Coronavirus, and if you like the show, please leave us a review and a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to help more listeners find our global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is produced by Topher Foreheaz, Jordan Gospore,

Magnus Henrickson, and n Laura Carlson. Today's main story was reported by Kristin V. Brown and Emma Court. Original music by Leo Sidrin. Our editors are Rick Shine and Francesco Levi. Francesco Levi is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks for listening, mm HM.