One of the more notorious effects of coronavirus is being seen at this very moment in Europe.
Italy is under lockdown, meanwhile, thousands of cases are being detected in the UK, Spain, and France.
The WHO has declared the virus spread to constitute a pandemic and authorities worldwide are scrambling to gather resources to avoid further problems in an already-strained global health infrastructure.
A few days ago, Italy ordered all restaurants closed because the health authorities considered them to be an extreme risk. Indeed, restaurants are places that tend to be crowded with people in close range of one another, and with people eating and drinking, the risk of infection is higher than in most places.
Enter no-contact delivery. A number of delivery services, such as JustEat and Doordash, are beginning to offer an alternative: no contact delivery.
The premise of this service is to call the delivery company and specifically request that the delivery person conduct a no-contact delivery.
This means that the restaurant promises strict disinfection and hygiene standards in the handling of the food, and furthermore, the delivery person will put the food down and always maintain a 6-foot distance with the customer.
The idea is that by limiting the handling of the food and preparing it in controlled environments, the potential spread of pathogens will be hindered.
At the moment, perhaps due to the novelty of this kind of service, there is no scientific consensus on whether this type of food delivery is safer.
Nonetheless, both restaurant patrons and restaurants are banking on it, as people begin to get cabin fever from staying home and restaurants take a big hit in terms of lost revenue.
