US restaurant owners get creative to keep workers safe

Washington

US RESTAURANT owners, lacking clear federal guidance on how to keep their workers safe, are funding creative in-house solutions themselves - and crossing their fingers.

At Michelin-star restaurant Fiola in Washington DC, there's now a doctor on call who's developed a pre-shift screening routine and a contract tracing system for workers. North-east pizza chain & pizza has subsidised Lyft trips to and from work to keep staff off public transportation.

Upscale eatery Fellow in Los Angeles has bought every employee a US$30 wearable fitness tracker that detects significant changes in respiratory rates in hopes of catching any cases of the virus early.

"We are learning as we go," said Fiola owner Fabio Trabocchi. "At the end of the day, there's no doubt about it, they are coming to work at a great risk. And I wanted to make sure they have the peace of mind."

Restaurant owners' inventive responses to the virus come amid a lack of clear federal regulations. There's no nationwide mask mandate, even for servers, meaning the staff preparing food, delivering meals to tables and clearing dishes could be putting themselves and others at risk, especially in indoor restaurants. New York City will be stopping all indoor service on Monday, but it continues in many other cities and states.

According to a report released this month by the UC Berkeley Food Labor Research Center and the advocacy group One Fair Wage, 44 per cent of restaurant employees report one or more staff has contracted the virus, and more than four in five say they're within six feet of an unmasked person at least once during their shifts. BLOOMBERG