Day: August 11, 2020

Here’s where I’m going to be a bit of a cantankerous old spoilsport.

In New York City, in our current phase of re-opening, restaurants are allowed to serve people out of doors with social distancing. So they’ve set up tables on either side of the sidewalk with, nominally, more distance between them than NY rents normally allow. But the result, as these uncropped images show, is that to walk down the street one must pass by maskless diners a lot closer than the recommended 6 feet. To move any further away from them would risk being closer to the diners on the other side of the pavement.

I realize that restaurants need to survive, that people can’t stay cooped up in doors forever and that the risks of viral contagion are much lower outside but this really just doesn’t seem like it’s likely to keep the virus contained. Furthermore, I suspect that once people feel this way of operating is sanctioned it will spread to many other activities where it’s not OK. But that’s just me.

Click any image to see them all larger.