WEBVTT - Next Phase for Restaurants... Outdoor Bubble Dining

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<v Speaker 1>It's Monday, November nine. I'm Oscar Romeiras from the Daily

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<v Speaker 1>Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is Reopening America.

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<v Speaker 1>As the weather turns colder, restaurants have had to adapt

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<v Speaker 1>once again to be able to serve customers and keep

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<v Speaker 1>the coronavirus from spreading. Enter bubble dining. Restaurants are setting

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<v Speaker 1>up clear plastic domes and pods with tables set inside

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<v Speaker 1>to keep customers safe and warm, but are they safe?

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<v Speaker 1>Ventilation and cleanliness must still be maintained inside. Alison too Wellness,

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<v Speaker 1>reporter at the Washington Post, joins us for the new

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<v Speaker 1>dining pods. Thanks for joining us, Allison, Thanks som for

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<v Speaker 1>having me on. I've been pretty fascinated with the progression

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<v Speaker 1>of how restaurants have been adjusting to the pandemic. Early on,

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<v Speaker 1>obviously everything transition to outdoor dining, and then the big

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<v Speaker 1>question came was like, well, what are we gonna do

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<v Speaker 1>when it starts getting cold? What are we gonna do

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<v Speaker 1>when it starts raining. You know, you still need to

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<v Speaker 1>put people in certain places. And one of the new

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<v Speaker 1>things that have been popping up in certain areas now

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<v Speaker 1>you can call them bubble tents. Domes dining pods. But

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<v Speaker 1>there's these little clear iglue like things where they're setting

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<v Speaker 1>up outside of restaurants and then you know they're putting

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<v Speaker 1>the table and chairs inside. There's a lot of questions

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<v Speaker 1>are these things safe because now you're just creating an

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<v Speaker 1>enclosed area where diners are sitting. So Allison, you looked

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<v Speaker 1>into this, tell us a little bit more about it.

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<v Speaker 1>So the dining bubbles have become, like you said, just

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<v Speaker 1>increasingly popular, especially as the weather starts to turn colder

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<v Speaker 1>in some places across the US, you know, or even

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<v Speaker 1>in other countries. And like you said, the big concern

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<v Speaker 1>is whether it's safe to be grouping and people a

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<v Speaker 1>group of people inside an area where it's small and

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<v Speaker 1>the ventilation is not good essentially because it's a tense

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<v Speaker 1>And so what experts are saying is that any activity

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<v Speaker 1>that you do at this point in the pandemic that

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<v Speaker 1>is outside of your household, there's always to be some

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<v Speaker 1>level of risk, but there are a lot of things

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<v Speaker 1>you can do to mitigate or you know, reduce the

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<v Speaker 1>level of risk. And when it comes to pod dining,

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<v Speaker 1>while we've all established that environment is not ideal in

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<v Speaker 1>a pandemic, there are a number of things that you

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<v Speaker 1>can do to kind of make it safer for you

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<v Speaker 1>and the group of people that you'll be eating with.

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<v Speaker 1>So one of the main things, obviously is to really

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<v Speaker 1>be careful about who you're choosing to have the meal with. Obviously,

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<v Speaker 1>at this point, if someone in that tent has coronavirus,

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<v Speaker 1>the chance of you getting it, you know, might be

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<v Speaker 1>higher than say, if you're eating outdoors with that person.

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<v Speaker 1>From what the experts were telling you, there's these tradeoffs.

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<v Speaker 1>If you're in a small bubble situation, well you're protected

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<v Speaker 1>from outside people and they're protected from you. But that

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<v Speaker 1>tradeoff is, yes, you are spending more time in these tighter,

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<v Speaker 1>enclosed places, and one of the things that you mentioned

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<v Speaker 1>kind of evaluating who you're dining with. I guess the

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<v Speaker 1>ideal situation would be to go from your bubble, your

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<v Speaker 1>pandemic bubble, to dining in this bubble, dining sitting with

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<v Speaker 1>those same people. If you really want to be safe,

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<v Speaker 1>at least you all know you're following the rules exactly exactly,

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<v Speaker 1>and so the safest option is dining with either your

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<v Speaker 1>immediate household, because you're already exposed to those people in

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<v Speaker 1>your home setting, and so it would really be similar

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<v Speaker 1>to having a meal at home around the dining room table,

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<v Speaker 1>or like you said, you're grouping with friends who may

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<v Speaker 1>not be in your immediate household, but they're part of

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<v Speaker 1>your pandemic pot and you all agreed to be very

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<v Speaker 1>careful and so the chances of them having the virus

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<v Speaker 1>and chances you having the virus are are very low.

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<v Speaker 1>So those are all things you have to think about.

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<v Speaker 1>And then you're thinking about, well, what do I do

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<v Speaker 1>with sanitation and ventilation? And there are ways where you

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<v Speaker 1>can create better air flow in the tent, opening the windows,

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<v Speaker 1>open the doors. You know, just keep being mindful of

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<v Speaker 1>wearing your math when you're not eating, making sure you're

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<v Speaker 1>practicing good hand hiking, all the rules that have already

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<v Speaker 1>been kind of ingrained in us. At this point. The

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<v Speaker 1>ventilation thing is going to be a huge thing. One

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<v Speaker 1>of the experts said, if you're in one of these

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<v Speaker 1>bubbles that definitely shouldn't be feeling stuffy or like their stale,

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<v Speaker 1>and then that would be a sign right away to

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<v Speaker 1>change something. And as you mentioned, maybe open the little

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<v Speaker 1>zipper for the window or whatever it is. And these

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<v Speaker 1>bubbles pods are popping up in a lot of places

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<v Speaker 1>New York, Chicago. In Seattle, there was a restaurateur speaking

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<v Speaker 1>to a local news station saying, you know, they were

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<v Speaker 1>spending a lot of money on getting these but with

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<v Speaker 1>regards to the ventilation, they were, uh, you know, this

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<v Speaker 1>is gonna be hard to do. There's people waiting, but

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<v Speaker 1>they were spending ten or fifteen minutes in between parties

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<v Speaker 1>just to let it air out. So the difficult part

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<v Speaker 1>about the ventilation is there's really no guidance and there's

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<v Speaker 1>just hasn't been the research done to know exactly, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>what is the right amount of time that you need

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<v Speaker 1>to let these pods air out for. So I think

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of restaurants are having to try to figure

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<v Speaker 1>that out on their own and trying to figure out,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, what is that appropriate amount of time, and

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<v Speaker 1>there just isn't science on that yet. And cleaning and

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<v Speaker 1>cleaning to you clean the surface of the table, but

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<v Speaker 1>are people cleaning the whole inside of the dome? You know,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a lot of stuff that goes into it. And

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<v Speaker 1>like I said, I applaud these people for really getting

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<v Speaker 1>innovative with ways to figure it out, ways to keep

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<v Speaker 1>Peter there, but you're right, it always brings up more

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<v Speaker 1>questions and how on how you're going to actually do

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<v Speaker 1>it in practice, Right, there's a lot, there's a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of variability for sure. Well, we'll see how these bubble

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<v Speaker 1>pods work out, and we'll see how well they catch on.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, if there's a lot of success with them,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm sure you're gonna see them in a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>different places as it is, a lot of restaurants and

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<v Speaker 1>cities have even allowed everybody already to spread out in

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<v Speaker 1>the sidewalks and the streets in certain areas. So definitely

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<v Speaker 1>something that will be with us for a little while still.

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<v Speaker 1>Alison che Wellness, reporter at the Washington Post, thank you

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<v Speaker 1>very much for joining us. Thank you so much. I'm Oscarmeres,

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<v Speaker 1>and this has been reopening America. Don't forget that, says

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<v Speaker 1>big news stories. You can check me out on the

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<v Speaker 1>Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday. So follow us

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<v Speaker 1>on my Heart radio or wherever you get your podcasts.