Restaurants have seen a major drop in table dining, according to data collected by popular reservation app OpenTable.
Use of the international app, which, according to the The Hill, provides reservation services to nearly 60,000 restaurants in seven countries, has dropped 48% in the United States, compared to last year’s numbers.
“Reservations stayed stable in February with a big increase on Valentine’s Day,” OpenTable’s chief operating officer Andrea Johnston said in a statement. “But March brought new health and safety concerns around the world. Looking at comprehensive data from restaurants on our platform — across online reservations, phone reservations, and walk-ins — we note sharp declines over the last week.”
48% drop in in-dining reservations from this time last year, per OpenTable pic.twitter.com/RVeq1RUD30
— Amanda (@AmandaPresto) March 16, 2020
“In Seattle, one of the hardest-hit cities in the U.S., OpenTable reports a 63 percent drop as of March 14, compared to that day last year. In another city with triple-digit cases of the virus, New York City, reservations have dropped 64 percent,” The Hill noted.
Washington state, as of Monday, has 772 confirmed cases of COVID-19, or the novel coronavirus.
On Sunday, Washington Democratic Governor Jay Inslee issued a “statewide order to shut down restaurants, bars, entertainment and recreational facilities statewide due to the coronavirus,” effective Monday, KIRO7 News reported, noting, “Restaurants can operate only in take-out, grab and go, and delivery capacities.”
The order could last for up to two weeks, the Democratic governor said, adding that it could also be extended.
New York state, where there are a confirmed 950 cases of coronavirus, has shuttered businesses, too.
On Sunday night, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered bars and restaurants to close their dining and seating areas Tuesday. Monday morning, the governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut said bars and restaurants will become takeout-only state-wide.
“The governors said essential businesses such as supermarkets and gas stations will be able to stay open after 8 p.m. Monday, though all non-essential businesses must close. Restaurants will be able to offer take-out and delivery,” WNYT.com reported.
As noted by The Daily Wire, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) updated directives on gatherings and events Sunday, “further limiting the recommended size of assemblies of multiple people to just 50 people and setting a time period for such limits to the next 8 weeks in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19.”
On Friday, President Donald Trump officially declared a national emergency over the spread of coronavirus, unlocking $50 billion to address the health scare.
“We’re taking several decisive new actions in our very vigilant effort to combat and ultimately defeat the coronavirus,” Trump said, The Daily Wire reported. “We had some very old and obsolete rules that we had to live with that worked under certain circumstances but not under mass circumstances. They were in place a long time and we’re breaking them down now, and they’re very usable for certain instances, but not for this.”
“To unleash the full power of the federal government under this effort, I’m officially declaring a national emergency,” the president said. “The action I am taking will open up access to up to $50 billion of very important and a large amount of money for states and territories and localities in our shared fight against this disease.”
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