As Kansas City restaurants gradually resume dine-in service, restaurant workers are now being exposed to hundreds, even thousands, of diners per week. Most of the restaurants require that all staff comply with new, strict sanitary guidelines and wear masks to work, but the workers themselves must interact with guests who do not have to wear them. Restaurant workers, many of whom do not have health insurance, feel nervous, anxious, and unsafe. With coronavirus hospitalizations rising in states that have reopened, many workers in Kansas City feel like we must choose between paying the bills and potentially risking the health of ourselves and our families. 

See: Coronavirus: As states reopen, US hospitalizations rise

Kansas City’s servers, cooks, bartenders, bussers, hosts, and managers would be safer and better protected from exposure to the virus if guests were required to wear masks upon entering, exiting, and awaiting the arrival of their food and beverages. Studies show that even a homemade cloth face mask dramatically reduces the droplet excretion that an infected person could pass on while speaking. Because the nature of our jobs require communication and relatively close contact, a mask requirement would greatly benefit us and the other diners in the restaurant by limiting the risk of exposure.

See: Could SARS-CoV-2 be transmitted via speech droplets?

Please support restaurant workers by signing this petition asking Mayor Quinton Lucas to require all individuals spending time indoors in Kansas City dining establishments to wear masks upon arrival, when speaking with staff, and after the check is dropped. This simple measure will help protect the health of restaurant workers as we put our bodies and our families at risk in order to bring you a meal.