With QPass in place, family

dining out here impossible 

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Aug 7 (PIA) –Family members living under one home address can now share one dining table in a restaurant, as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) through its Memorandum Circular 20-39 series of 2020 has increased dining capacity of opened restaurants in areas declares under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ) to 75 percent. 

But then, in Bohol, where there is still one Home Quarantine Pass for one household policy in place, that memorandum circular may not be applicable. 

With the Memorandum Circular which the DTI issued July 17, 2020, the government has expressly allowed restaurants, dine in establishments, canteens, food courts, food parks and eateries and establishments providing dining-in services to operate subject to strict compliance with the social distancing protocols. 

In areas declared under General Community Quarantine, restaurants are only allowed to operate at a 50% capacity while areas under MGCQ enjoys a bigger 75% operating capacity. 

With the economic disruption brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, the government sees this as an opportunity for these establishments’ workers to get more income and for the establishment to have greater turn-over of diners. 

With curfew however, the MC has enjoined local government units to adjust their curfew hours to midnight so that restaurants can remain open until 11:00 PM. 

Over and above all these, starting July 21, 2020, restaurants and fastfood services are allowed to serve all kinds of food and beverages including alcoholic drinks as long as a customer is only given two individual servings of alcoholic beverage, no more. 

Section 4 of the MC however reiterates the mandatory minimum requirements of their operations. 

In reference to the Department of Health’s Administrative Order 2020-0015 and the DT interim guidelines on workplace prevention and control of COVID-19 in the workplace, restaurant owners are required to register with Safepass or Staysafe.ph for a better and more efficient contactless contact tracing system for customers and guests. 

They also must provide a thermal scanner for all personal, suppliers and guests and anybody with a temperature of 37.5 shall be politely denied entry. 

Establishments must also provide hand washing stations or alcohol based hand sanitizers for easy use by guests and customers and also for personnel. 

The establishment is also mandated to strictly impose no mask, no entry policy, put up localized monitoring officer for compliance to social distancing which shall be observed in all places of the establishment. 

For minimum chances of transmission, authorities recommend dining al fresco, but for air-conditioned dining areas, owners must enhance their exhaust system and install proper ventilation systesm to ensure better airflow. 

For queuing customers, the policy is to make sure there is ample 1 meter distance on all sides, as well as chairs, they must be placed a meter apart. 

For face-to-face seating, owners must put up table-top clear acrylic dividers at least 18 inches tall to prevent virus transmission while making sure there is least contact among waiters and customers. 

While the new MC allows buffet service, food servers must be there to assist and all food containers must have food covers. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)