The past ten months have been – how do I put this – terrible? Incredibly hard? Mentally draining? While all of these adjectives may come to mind when thinking of all the events of the past year, I believe it is more beneficial to our health to think about the good that was born out of all the craziness. For example, many have learned how to adapt any activity to be done outside. 

The data about COVID-19 has consistently proven that the risk of transmission decreases greatly with air movement, specifically outdoors. For this reason, the vast majority of people have attempted to keep parties, meetings, and even simple social gatherings outside as much as possible. As the year progressed and the seasons turned, however, the public was left to wonder how to continue utilizing the outdoors as much as possible without getting frostbite. 

Here is where the restaurants come in. During the summer, New England residents – myself included – enjoy sitting outside with a good meal. The possibility of continuing this tradition throughout the rest of the year was enhanced by the pandemic, but restaurants have made it hard to do so. 

As soon as the first snowfall hit Connecticut, most restaurants packed up their outdoor seating and put it away until the late spring. Although several have kept a few tables available outside, most restaurants are only available for indoor seating. Limiting the opportunity to sit outside during winter months not only proves to be inconvenient, but also unsafe due to the high risk of COVID transmission when eating indoors unmasked. For these reasons, I think that all restaurants should keep their outdoor seating year-round. 

I recognize that all of you economically-savvy individuals might have conjured up an argument by now about why this outdoor dining provides an monetary burden to restaurants. However, I believe that with current restrictions on indoor dining limiting the number of customers permitted inside at once, the economic benefit of allowing customers to dine outside may outweigh the costs. AKA, restaurants would be able to bring in a much higher profit than they currently do. 

The tendency of takeout-purchasers is to leave a smaller tip with takeout – if any tip at all – than they would when dining in person. Therefore, servers would be happier and may even be willing to brave the cold weather in order to bring in the higher tips. And it’s not like outdoor dining requires the restaurants to purchase any new equipment, either; the majority of restaurants brought out heaters during the late summer and early fall, so we know that they are available. 

I ate outside recently at one of the few local restaurants that kept their outdoor option, and the cold is not as bad as you might think. If there are patio heaters somewhat near your table and you order hot food, the experience feels not unlike a chilly September meal. If you feel so inclined, you could even bring a blanket (or restaurants could provide one, but that seems to be asking too much) to help keep yourself warm.

While the rising availability of the COVID-19 vaccine may make it seem like we can let ourselves return to normal life, it still may be a little while before eating indoors at full restaurant capacity is a safe option. 

I know that I may be providing a naive argument and leaving out key components of this decision, but I believe that the net gain from providing outdoor seating will outweigh the net loss. Picture yourself bundled up drinking a hot cup of coffee or tea and waiting for your warm meal while seated next to a heat source…doesn’t sound so bad, does it?