Outdoor Dining Setups Demonstrate Discriminatory Effects of Capitalism

Outdoor dining was simple during the warmer months of the COVID-19 pandemic, but now that the weather is getting colder, establishments are implementing new ways to serve customers in order to maintain business. Image courtesy of WIX.

It appears that the time is upon us: the dreaded second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the United States sets a new record for daily infections almost every day — for the first time, the country's seven-day moving average of new cases has surpassed 150,000 — the country is bracing for a spike of COVID-19 cases after Thanksgiving.

One of the main sources of reprieve from the pandemic during the summer months was outdoor dining, allowing people to maintain some semblance of pre-pandemic life. However, now that the sun is setting at 4 p.m. and the temperatures are dropping, sitting outside for a meal seems less worthwhile.

This quest for normalcy has led to some creative problem-solving. Many restaurants have implemented plastic tents to provide a heated space for individuals to still dine with their pods, usually situated on the sidewalk outside of the establishment.

Some concerns have been raised about how safe these measures actually are because it is still an enclosed space, meaning the virus can still easily spread among patrons. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have shared guidance on eating at restaurants, emphasizing the importance of open ventilation systems and how sitting to eat at a restaurant, both indoor and outdoor, is a considerably higher risk compared to take-out.

While this additional seating is important to help boost the restaurant business — in the six months since the pandemic hit the United States, approximately 100,000 restaurants closed and nearly 3 million employees lost their jobs, and the industry is on track to lose $240 billion in sales by the end of the year, according to the National Restaurant Association — it raises questions about the ways in which society picks and chooses how to allocate its money in response to health-related issues.

Homeless individuals have always been at a higher risk of contracting illnesses, and this has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. Across the country, homelessness has grown by 22 percent over the last five years, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The CDC stated that sleeping outdoors often does not provide protection from the environment, adequate access to hygiene and sanitation facilities or connection to services and healthcare, leaving homeless individuals at a higher risk of contracting the disease.

Law enforcement agencies often impose fines and legal action upon homeless encampments. Image courtesy of WIX.

It is ironic that these tents are acceptable when there is a profit to be made. Many cities impose fines and jail time for individuals who live on the street, and tent cities, a type of temporary housing facility for homeless individuals, are often dismantled by law enforcement agencies.

It is contradictory and classist that it is permissible that these resources can be used for outdoor dining — an activity that is not a necessity, especially amid a pandemic — but not for housing, which is a basic human right. Research has shown that throughout history, capitalism has led to and perpetuated homelessness. Don Mitchell, author of "Mean Streets: Homelessness, Public Space, and the Limits of Capital," explains:

"Because capitalism requires the circulation of bodies for labor, in its origins we see the uprooting and movement of vast numbers of people. As the European feudal system began to break down in the 14th and 15th centuries, many laborers were sent on the road. Those who encountered these mobile people saw them as strangers who “should be working.” Women were seen as more deserving than men, children more than adults, old people more than young people, whites more than blacks, native-born more than immigrant. Though these categories shift historically, the basic tenets have carried through, and much of how we organize our welfare and aid to homeless people follows such a logic."

These restaurant bubbles are made with the intention of being waterproof to maximize the business the establishment can receive. Why is maintaining a profit more important than potentially saving someone who may otherwise freeze or contract a disease without shelter? It is clear where society's priorities lie.

The lack of accessibility to fair housing has been a problem long before the pandemic. During a time that calls for creative measures, it is insulting to struggling communities that these resources are being allocated to help already privileged individuals. Homeless individuals are left behind, yet again, during a time when they need the most help.