Forum letter writer calls for dining out to resume with one person per table, but netizens say smokers pose bigger problem

Singapore — Let people eat at food outlets again, but allow only one person per table. A letter writer to The Straits Times made this suggestion following recent images of taxi drivers and food delivery riders eating in their car boots, bus stops or just sitting down on a kerb.

In-person dining at food outlets is banned under phase 2 (Heightened Alert), due to end on June 13.

In a letter to the Straits Times forum, one Cheng Shoong Tat said that essential and frontine workers do not have enough places to consume their takeaway food.

Therefore, many malls have opened their foodcourts and public places for frontliners to eat at, on the condition that only one diner is allowed per table, which is placed at least one metre away from the next one.

The writer asked: “By the same token, why not allow food outlets to resume dine-in service on the same basis, in addition to serving takeaways?”

Cheng wrote that this limited dine-in service would supplement the establishment’s earnings and the impact of recent Covid-19 measures would be cushioned.

Many agreed with Cheng, with some urging let two people dine at the same table. But this raised concerns about two persons talking while eating, which can be problematic when a virus is airborne.

However, some netizens felt that more than dining restrictions, there should be restrictions on smoking, especially on people smoking in groups since they would not be wearing  masks.

/TISG