Some San Jose State student restaurant employees are concerned about their job security now that restaurants have been allowed to reopen outdoor dining.
Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted the state’s regional stay-at-home-order last month, which was issued in December to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The order required residents to stay in their homes and prevented businesses including restaurants from operating outdoors.
Purva Kumar, a communications sophomore, said she was glad to continue working as a hostess at Yard House in Santana Row.
“I needed the money because I am very broke,” Kumar said during a phone call. “I was really excited to go back to work.”
While exact data is unknown, past studies indicate dining outside increases an individual’s chances of contracting COVID-19.
In a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report last reviewed on Sept. 24, 2020, researchers found those who tested positive for COVID-19 were two times more likely to have eaten at a restaurant than those who tested negative.
This could potentially be caused by the inability to eat and drink with a mask on, researchers included.
Viviana Ruiz, a child and adolescent development junior, said she continued working at Sauced, a Santana Row barbecue restaurant, when the second stay-at-home order was issued in December.
Ruiz said she sees people walk inside the restaurant without masks now that outdoor dining is available.
“Once we open up the outdoor dining, when the weather is nice, it’s very chaotic,” Ruiz said during a phone call. “A lot of people forget we’re in a pandemic. I see a lot of people without masks on.”
Like Ruiz, business sophomore Samantha Ramirez said she encounters customers who refuse to wear their masks at The Cheesecake Factory in Fresno where she works.
“People just come in without masks and it’s the same old story,” Ramirez said. “They argue about how it’s a hoax, or how they shouldn’t have to wear a mask.”
Ruiz said while business does well when the weather is favorable, her and her coworkers work less in inclement weather.
“When it is raining, a lot of people just end up working two hours because there’s nothing to do,” Ruiz said. “No one’s coming out, all of our tables are outdoors.”
Some restaurants also have a limited number of staff working each shift.
Staggering shifts is encouraged by the CDC and the California Department of Public Health.
“If another lockdown happens soon, [I] can’t redo [my] unemployment anymore,” Ramirez said. “[I] can only do it twice every year, so that’s a risk of working in the restaurant industry.”
People working in the food and agriculture industries experience a 39% excess mortality rate during the pandemic, according to a preliminary study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.
With cities including Oakland and San Jose passing hazard pay laws for grocery workers, some restaurant workers like Ruiz have asked when it’ll be their turn.
“I know some servers, they take COVID-19 tests every week just to be safe because they are dealing with customers firsthand,” Ruiz said. “I do think there should be some sort of hazard pay.”
Purva Kumar said she’s hopeful both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines will boost morale.
“With vaccines coming out, I feel like [restaurant workers] are starting to feel safer and less worried,” she said.
