Dine out at your own risk!

The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published by the CDC on September 11 found that adults with positive SARS-CoV-2 test results were approximately twice as likely to have reported dining at a restaurant than were those with negative SARS-CoV-2 test results.

For the study, the authors carried out a case-control investigation of symptomatic outpatients from 11 US healthcare facilities.

They stated that close contact with persons with known Covid-19 or going to locations that offer on-site eating and drinking options were associated with Covid-19 positivity.

The authors stated that dining out for eating and drinking purposes is riskier than shopping or paying a visit to someone’s place.

Eating and drinking on-site at locations that offer such options might be important risk factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, the authors noted in the report.

They also added that efforts should be made to reduce possible exposures where mask use and social distancing are difficult to maintain, like hotels and restaurants.

Close to half of the study participants reported shopping or visiting people inside their homes on at least one day during the 14 days before the test.

Among the adults with Covid-19, over 49 per cent reported having close contact with a Covid-19 positive person, mostly family members.

Meanwhile, the US still remains the worst affected country and has recorded more than 6.5 million cases of the virus, with 1,94,000 deaths reported so far, as per worldometer dashboard.