Coronavirus Australia: No app? Leave your name and number

In plans for reopening restaurants and cafes, Australians who don’t have the COVIDSafe app may have to leave their details with staff.

Owner of Sydney restaurant Golden Century Eric Wong checks the temperatures of staff members before lockdown closed the restaurant. Picture: Sam Ruttyn.

Australians could be asked to give their name and phone number to front-of-house staff at restaurants and cafes if they do not have the COVIDSafe tracking app, as the industry unveils a blueprint for reopening in early June with about half as many diners.

Restaurant and Catering Australia CEO Wes Lambert has submitted reopening guidelines to national cabinet, which was reviewed last week, and is working with the Queensland government this week to reopen the industry next month.

The suite of “practical, low-cost measures” advocated by Mr Lambert include a 1.5m distancing rule between tables – more relaxed than national cabinet’s one person per 4 sqm rule – disposable menus, no condiments on tables, hand sanitisers throughout the restaurant or cafe and social distancing in waiting areas.

If a person does not have the COVIDSafe app on their smartphone, Restaurant and Catering Australia wants diners to “sign in” to a restaurant and provide their name and number so they can be contacted if another patron later finds out they have contracted the coronavirus.

The legislation governing the app states a person cannot be refused entry to any premises if they have not downloaded the tool.

“It’s not a complicated thing. It’s an ‘I don’t have the COVIDSafe app, I’ll give you my details quickly so I can sit down for an hour’. We fully advocate the tracking app, in the absence of that the best practice is tracking or tracing,” Mr Lambert said.

Having 1.5 metres between tables would reduce a shop’s capacity to 50 or 60 per cent, Mr Lambert said, which was “better” than a 25 per cent capacity rate he predicted under the one person per 4 sqm rule.

“At 25 per cent capacity they just can’t open or can’t make money or trade effectively,” he said.

“Many restaurants pivoted and brought on take away, grocery and self-delivery and app-delivery. That will be a part of dining during the COVID recovery and beyond.”

The Australian understands there are expectations in some quarters of the restaurant and catering industry there will not be a 100 per cent occupancy rate until there is a vaccine.

Industry and Science Minister Karen Andrews on Monday said the CSIRO could have a coronavirus vaccine ready to be rolled out within 10-15 months.

The 4 sqm rule “will be the new normal for a while” for retailers, Australia Retailers Association CEO Paul Zahra said, as he reviews “best practice principles” to help the sector’s reopening.

“Whilst we’d like to think it’s business as usual, it’s really business as unusual,” Mr Zahra said.

“That may mean social distancing markers on the floor, hand sanitiser, to other ways of retailing like click-and-collect, kerbside assist, where you order online and collect on the kerb. We’re looking at all sorts of avenues to get retailers back in place as quickly as possible.”

Retailers are also considering having Perspex shields at the cash register and no cash sales.

Restaurant and Catering Australia will push to access the government’s $1500 fortnightly JobKeeper payments beyond the scheduled cut-off point at the end of September, for as long as businesses can prove their revenue has reduced by at least 30 per cent compared to the same time last year.

“Restaurants are going to need those safety net (measures) from the government,” Mr Lambert said.

“They’ll need JobKeeper, BAS top ups (referred to as cash boost payments) and a mandatory code of conduct (for commercial tenancies) past the 27 September termination of those incentives because the domestic travel will be down until the borders reopen and confidence returns and the international borders are reopened in 2021.

“When you walk into an office you know everyone who’s there. When you walk into a retail store you don’t have to touch anything. You can walk around the store and just look or in the grocery store pick up the items you want to buy.

“In a restaurant there are dozens of touch points and you’re there for one or two hours. We want patrons to feel safe about dining out.”

Restaurant and Catering Australia proposals to keep restaurants and cafes “COVID safe”:

•1.5m between tables

•All patrons must have the COVIDSafe app or record their name and number at the place they dine in so they can be contacted later if needed

•Social distancing in waiting areas

•Removing the limit on ‘tap and go’ payments, having wipes available for patrons to wipe down the cash register keypad before use

•No condiments on tables

•Disposable or chalkboard menus, or laminated if they can be cleaned

•Commercial dishwashers that can sanitise cutlery and crockery to 80 degrees, or recyclable cutlery and crockery

•Hand sanitisers throughout the location

•Staff practising WHO and state/federal health guidelines – i.e. wiping down tables and chairs between each patron, no bar service