Indoor dining is now prohibited and outdoor dining is limited to tables of no more than 5 people under Washington state’s new COVID restrictions for restaurants and bars, which took effect on Wednesday.
The restaurant industry has launched an aggressive effort to lift the new restrictions, arguing that their businesses are perfectly safe and no new restrictions are necessary. That's misleading. The industry’s push to remove restrictions is wildly irresponsible. Read our full statement here.
Workers in the industry are definitely concerned about their own safety when it comes to indoor dining—and the available data shows they have good reason to be worried.
After healthcare, the restaurant & food service industry has the highest number of COVID outbreaks in the state, according to a report from the Washington State Department of Health.
The top four industries in WA for COVID outbreaks are:
Food service/restaurants — 143 outbreaks reported
Agriculture — 122 outbreaks reported
Construction — 95 outbreaks reported
Childcare — 81 outbreaks reported
All four industries are frequently characterized by low wages and economic insecurity — and workers in these industries are more likely to be People of Color. That means that outbreaks in these industries are dangerous for workers, for customers, and for public health — and those outbreaks are deepening the existing racial and economic inequities in our state.
Workers in these industries have been facing heightened risk of virus exposure at work since the pandemic took hold. And with COVID cases spiking again across the state, workers and customers need policies that protect both their personal health and the public health. By law, workers in Washington state have access to paid sick leave, which they can use to stay home if they feel sick.
But not everyone has enough paid sick leave left to stay home and make ends meet if they’re forced to quarantine. Workers who get COVID or who are caring for a family member with the virus need real income support. The sheer number of people coming into contact with each other in service industry workplaces means that the possibility for viral spread is especially high for both staff and customers. Public health and economic security are deeply linked, and additional income support programs are badly needed — especially when it comes to protecting workers who need to stay home when there’s been an outbreak at their workplace.
There is a bright spot here: King-County Public Health just announced a new income support program which will provide one-time cash payments to workers with COVID who need financial support to stay home while recovering. As we publish on November 20, this program hasn’t launched yet, but it should be up and running soon — more information is available on the King County Public Health website. And while it’s good to see a program like this taking shape in King County, and it could help prevent as many outbreaks from continuing in essential industries like food service, we need similar programs across the state—and across the country—to truly slow the virus’ spread and protect public health.
RESTAURANT WORKERS AND CUSTOMERS: WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
With outbreaks happening across the service industry—and with new restrictions just announced in Washington—restaurant owners and service industry executives have been vocal about what they think should be happening.
But restaurant workers and customers need to be part of this conversation, too. We want to hear what you’ve been seeing and what you think. How is your health and safety being protected? What are you most concerned about?