Speaker 1: Welcome to Prognosis. I'm Laura Carlson. It's day two and
Speaker 1: fifty one since coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. Today's
Speaker 1: main story. Outdoor dining has turned out to be a
Speaker 1: great way to mitigate virus risk, but winters here, forcing
Speaker 1: restaurant owners to improvise with heat lamps and walled enclosures.
Speaker 1: So at what point does an outdoor space start to
Speaker 1: become just a room with all the same infection risk.
Speaker 1: But first, here's what happened in virus News today. Visor
Speaker 1: and bio en Tech are requesting emergency authorization of their
Speaker 1: COVID vaccine today. It could take at least three weeks
Speaker 1: for the US Food and Drug Administration to make its decision.
Speaker 1: Studies show the vaccine is effective and doesn't have any
Speaker 1: major safety issues. It could be the first vaccine leaguered
Speaker 1: for use, and the first doses could be administered as
Speaker 1: early as December, but first FDA staff and outside advisors
Speaker 1: must thoroughly vet the trial data provided by the company.
Speaker 1: In the US, the virus is still raging unchecked. Almost
Speaker 1: twelve percent of all hospital beds in US hospitals were
Speaker 1: occupied by COVID nineteen patients on November. That's the most
Speaker 1: since April twelve, according to the US Department of Health
Speaker 1: and Human Services. Finally, in Europe, there are some signs
Speaker 1: that lockdown measures are beginning to curb the virus spread.
Speaker 1: France's Prime Minister said curfew and lockdown measures to keep
Speaker 1: the pandemic in check are produced sing effects, and that
Speaker 1: if things stay on this track, small stores could reopen
Speaker 1: in early December. In England, the infection rate continues to rise,
Speaker 1: but the pace of increase has leveled off in recent
Speaker 1: weeks and now for today's main story. Restaurants across the
Speaker 1: country have been building and using outdoor dining spaces since
Speaker 1: the summer, but as winter approaches, many establishments are converting
Speaker 1: them into sheds or tents to help keep customers warm.
Speaker 1: As reporter Kristen V. Brown reports, these new structures can
Speaker 1: sometimes feel more indoors than outdoors. We wondered how safe
Speaker 1: they really are for patrons. It's a chilly forty reas
Speaker 1: on a Monday evening in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and the
Speaker 1: local restaurant, Miriam, is mostly empty. Several little individual dining
Speaker 1: rooms sit just outside the front of the restaurant. They
Speaker 1: share a tin roof and are separated by plastic panels.
Speaker 1: Owner Raphael has Seat says they're like capsules. They may
Speaker 1: be outdoors, but they're enclosed, forming their own private space.
Speaker 1: So people will basically sit kind of indoor, but just
Speaker 1: by their own table. So we'll close everything around them
Speaker 1: and put heaters, Raphael says. Miriam debuted its new winter
Speaker 1: dining area just a few days ago, and he says
Speaker 1: it seems to be working sure enough. Even at five
Speaker 1: PM on a cold evening, several of its tables fill up.
Speaker 1: People love it. People love if they you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's pretty, it's comfortable, it's you know, you don't feel
Speaker 1: their wings, so it's nice to see people that are
Speaker 1: very happy about it. Structures like this have been popping
Speaker 1: up all over the country, including New York City. Some
Speaker 1: establishments have taken the capsule approach, like Miriam, where each
Speaker 1: table is enclosed in its own structure. Others have built giant,
Speaker 1: shared outdoor dining rooms. Some of these spaces present the
Speaker 1: same risks as indoor dining. For example, entirely enclosed structures
Speaker 1: could block airflow and allow particles containing the virus to linger.
Speaker 1: Lindsay Marr is an engineer who studies airborne transmission at
Speaker 1: Virginia Tech. She says the safety of many of these
Speaker 1: spaces is somewhere between indoor and outdoor dining. If the
Speaker 1: air is fairly stagnant, it's not windy conditions, then things
Speaker 1: could certainly kind of be trapped a bit by the
Speaker 1: three walls and the roof of that tent. The best
Speaker 1: way to think about it is imagine that everyone is
Speaker 1: smoking a mini cigarette, and you know, if it's windy
Speaker 1: and let's good air flow through there, then that smoke
Speaker 1: will be kind of removed quickly and I won't build up.
Speaker 1: Lindsay says there are ways for restaurants to balance keeping
Speaker 1: their customers warm as well as safe a roof, two walls,
Speaker 1: and continuing to follow the other protocols, like making sure
Speaker 1: tables are spaced apart and people are wearing masks when
Speaker 1: they're not eating, But she says she would be unlikely
Speaker 1: to eat in one of these tents. Yes, if nobody
Speaker 1: else were there, or if there were very very few
Speaker 1: other people there, just my my household, I would. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't do it with people outside my household, clearly, though
Speaker 1: others aren't quite as discouraged. A Bonnie's grill on Fifth Avenue,
Speaker 1: Leo and Montrell have just finished up their meals. They
Speaker 1: declined to share their last names. Here's Leo. This is
Speaker 1: my only fourth foray since March. Being eating outdoors, bonnie
Speaker 1: set up has three walls enclosed with table space six
Speaker 1: ft or so apart. Leo says that so far he's
Speaker 1: only eating outside. They both say measures like spacing out
Speaker 1: tables and good ventilation made them a lot more comfortable,
Speaker 1: but Montrel says he would eat indoors or out. Well,
Speaker 1: I've done. I've done both and over the past few
Speaker 1: months because I work in hospital and think cat of
Speaker 1: the covids is stressful. So like if this Messican restaurant
Speaker 1: and Winsbrook, I have eaten inside and it's nice, but
Speaker 1: they have to keep both ends of the doors open
Speaker 1: like MoMA, just the outside of the cold wind and
Speaker 1: stuff are coming in. But I think as it gets colder,
Speaker 1: they need to open more capacity for indoor dining. Wild
Speaker 1: another Fifth Avenue restaurant, Tony is having a date night
Speaker 1: out with his wife. They're sitting in a fairly enclosed
Speaker 1: dining tent near the entrance. They were the only ones there.
Speaker 1: We decided to eat outside because there was only another
Speaker 1: couple here at the time, and now we're the only
Speaker 1: couple here at the time. Right yeah, Yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: great comfort right there. That's a great thing right there,
Speaker 1: only says anytime he wants to eat out, he assesses
Speaker 1: each restaurant set up carefully. They were seated right next
Speaker 1: to the entrance of the dining tent, and he says
Speaker 1: that was on purpose. Well, my thing is this. I
Speaker 1: like it that this area right here is open, and
Speaker 1: I feel a lot more comfortable if this weren't closed
Speaker 1: and it was like maybe a flap to come in
Speaker 1: or just a small enclosure to come in. I don't
Speaker 1: know if I feel that comfortable about it. Raphael, the
Speaker 1: restaurant owner, says he decided to build individual outdoor dining
Speaker 1: rooms because it seemed like the best balance of comfort
Speaker 1: and safety for his customers. He just doesn't think New
Speaker 1: Yorkers will keep eating outside all winter long. His spaces
Speaker 1: will not only block out the wind, but also feature heating,
Speaker 1: and for those who perhaps didn't dress warmly enough, he
Speaker 1: even offers a blanket on the menu for four dollars.
Speaker 1: We Steve want to live, you know, like this all
Speaker 1: opening open for it to come in and out. It's
Speaker 1: definitely not hundred and closed there. You know, it's wooden plastic.
Speaker 1: We say sanitized, and we you know, we do all
Speaker 1: the necessary things too for the surface of things, and
Speaker 1: I believe it's safe, really safe. Profile also says he
Speaker 1: didn't want to rely too heavily on business from indoor
Speaker 1: dining in New York. It's allowed for now, but the
Speaker 1: city's case rate is climbing and that might mean another shutdown.
Speaker 1: We are lucky to be so established and proactive about everything,
Speaker 1: so I have a really good feeling that we survived.
Speaker 1: But I can see how you know, I don't know
Speaker 1: the percentage, but I really believe that after this winter,
Speaker 1: it will be a you know, a very sad picture
Speaker 1: of seeing so much restaurant they didn't make it. Even
Speaker 1: if it's a bit chilly. Dining outdoors is just simply
Speaker 1: the safer option. But a blanket on the menu not
Speaker 1: a bad idea. That was Kristin V. Brown with additional
Speaker 1: reporting from Emma Court, and that's it for our show today.
Speaker 1: For coverage of the outbreak from one hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: bureaus around the world. Visit Bloomberg dot com, slash Coronavirus,
Speaker 1: and if you like the show, please leave us a
Speaker 1: review and a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's
Speaker 1: the best way to help more listeners find our global reporting.
Speaker 1: The Prognosis Daily edition is produced by Topher Foreheaz, Jordan Gospore,
Speaker 1: Magnus Henrickson, and n Laura Carlson. Today's main story was
Speaker 1: reported by Kristin V. Brown and Emma Court. Original music
Speaker 1: by Leo Sidrin. Our editors are Rick Shine and Francesco Levi.
Speaker 1: Francesco Levi is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: mm HM.