Just how safe are outdoor dining tents? Sorry to pop your plastic bubble, but it depends.
As the weather turns, a handful of New York-based restaurateurs are erecting plastic bubble tents to protect diners from unpredictable conditions like rain and wind—as well as other diners. The partitions go for between $400 to $730 a pop depending on size and have sprung up on Manhattan sidewalks from the West Village to the Upper West Side. While they may keep people safe from neighboring parties, there’s no guarantee that they protect them from fellow diners within their (literal) bubble. In fact, one public health expert suspects that these dining tents might actually be more risky compared to true open air dining, due to lack of circulation. Just another wrench in our plans. Grub Street has the story.
