Is It Really Safe?
This complicated issue also, of course, extends to the question of public safety. What do health officials have to say about indoor dining and could it put you at risk? The one and only Dr. Fauci has addressed the topic in recent interviews, saying "Being indoors absolutely increases the risk... I am concerned when I see things starting indoors, and that becomes more compelling when you move into fall and winter season."
A recent CDC report points to dining out as a factor of increased COVID spread, with those who tested positive being "twice as likely to have reported dining at a restaurant than were those with negative SARS-CoV-2 test results."
Like everything else in this pandemic, that means eating at your own risk.