No timeline for return of indoor dining as virus cases decline but stay high

<p>Some of the many tables now closed to students to curb the spread of COVID-19 on campus.</p>

Some of the many tables now closed to students to curb the spread of COVID-19 on campus.

Students are eager to eat inside, but there is no set timeline for the return of indoor dining at Duke. 

Dining tables in the Brodhead Center, Marketplace and the Bryan Center were roped off in October given rising COVID-19 cases. With case numbers inching in the right direction, students have begun to wonder whether indoor seating might be ready for a comeback.

“I miss the days when I could actually hold the pizza I was eating without being afraid that my fingers would fall off,” first-year Allison Taub said. 

Robert Coffey, executive director of dining services, said that Duke Dining’s plans and strategies are “based on guidance from the CDC, the FDA, Duke Health experts, staff from Duke’s Occupational and Environmental Safety Office, and the Durham Health Department.”

Coffey said that Duke Dining’s plans are contingent on the larger COVID-19 strategy across the University. “There is no established timeline for this [indoor seating] change,” he said.

By the time the last available indoor dining tables were shut down Oct. 30, the U.S. had reached nine million positive cases of COVID-19. In North Carolina, that figure was over 260,000—within Durham County, it was nearly 9,000. At Duke itself, the testing program was identifying around 20 positive cases a week.

Community spread remains higher now than it was then, both nationally, locally, in Durham and at Duke.

Recent COVID-19 statistics have contained small glimmers of hope. Since Jan. 8, the number of new national cases declined from a high of 300,594 to 92,739 one month later on Feb. 8.In Durham county, there were 282 cumulative known cases Jan. 8, and the number fell to 82 by Feb. 8.

However, Duke’s numbers since the semester began have been higher than in the fall, and by Feb. 3 the University had recorded more COVID-19 cases during the first four weeks of  spring semester data than during the entirety of the fall semester. 

Mary Pat McMahon, vice provost and vice president for student affairs, and Gary Bennett, vice provost for undergraduate education, explained in a video sent out to students last week that a campus-wide lockdown could be necessary if cases do not decrease. Students eating too close together is one of the causes of COVID-19 spread on campus.

This week, the number of new positive COVID-19 cases Duke reported declined for the second week in a row.

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