Despite the expansion of in-house restaurants across the Bay Area and the entry of San Francisco at the orange level on Tuesday, local infectious disease experts still warn that the activity poses some risk even to fully vaccinated people. An expert said he was even more concerned now than when the covered restaurant opened in early March.
The Chronicle interviewed three health experts about the risk levels for vaccinated people interested in indoor meals two weeks ago. Although they did not agree on all the details, everyone warned that dining indoors may not be worth the risk for some vaccinated people, especially older people with pre-existing health problems – it is possible that vaccinated people may still get sick or transmit the virus to other people.
Now, the same health experts say that, despite more restaurants reopening and injections kicking in, they recommend being just as cautious or even more cautious about dining indoors. That’s because the coronavirus is still circulating in the Bay Area along with more contagious variants, which has led some experts to warn of a potential fourth increase. Meanwhile, data from the California Department of Public Health found that restaurants were responsible for 7% of the state’s coronavirus outbreaks so far in 2021, the second most common environment behind residential care establishments.
“No one should dine indoors, vaccinated or not, now,” said John Swartzberg, an infectious disease specialist at UC Berkeley, in an email. “Spending an extended period of time indoors with a bunch of strangers with everyone talking out loud is a perfect way to spread this virus.”
Swartzberg said he feels most strongly about the dangers of eating indoors now because of the worrying variants – B117, which was first reported in the UK, is likely to be the dominant strain in about two weeks. It is believed to be 50% more transmissible and potentially 30% to 70% more deadly. Meanwhile, other variants – B1.351, first discovered in South Africa, and P.1, which led to a dramatic increase in Brazil – are alarming because they are somewhat resistant to antibodies produced by vaccines or natural infections. Four cases of B1,351 were found in the bay area, while P.1 was detected in southern California for the first time last week.
While cases are decreasing in the bay area, they have started to increase in 21 other states, causing health experts to warn against easing security measures very quickly. Swartzberg also pointed to the sharp increase in cases in Western Europe, where several countries have introduced new blockades in the past few days. The rate of new cases of COVID-19 in Poland has more than doubled since February.
Stanford health expert Robert Siegel said he expects people to assess not only the risks and benefits of indoor dining, but also to consider their age, personal risk factors, the prevalence of the disease in the community and how the restaurant chosen is organized in terms of table placement and ventilation.
“It is important to note that I do not believe that we should base our decisions entirely on the color level we are in,” he said by email. “If the virus had a choice in this matter, it would say ‘Open it all, NOW'”.
Janelle Bitker is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @janellebitker