Entering text into the input field will update the search result below

Study shows restaurants are riskiest for COVID-19 infections, explains why poor people are at greater risk

  • A study published yesterday in Nature found that the biggest causes of transmission of Coronavirus are crowded indoor spaces, in particular restaurants. Restaurants are 4x more dangerous than gyms and coffee shops.
  • The researchers used anonymized smartphone data to track the movements of 98 million people in 10 U.S. metro areas from March to May, the first wave of the virus, and superimposed the data on Covid-19 case numbers to model the virus's transmission.
  • However, the report states that while U.S. data suggests that crowded restaurants are most dangerous, that conclusion is not supported by contact tracing data from Germany, where restaurants were not found to be the primary source of infection. "That might be because it can be difficult to identify the source of an infection using contact-tracing data."
  • The study also suggests why people from poorer neighborhoods are more likely to get COVID-19: they are less able to work from home, and the stores they visit for essential supplies are often more crowded than in other areas. The average grocery store in poorer neighborhoods had 59% more hourly visitors per square foot, and visitors stayed on average 17% longer than at stores outside those areas. The report's author says that people living in these areas probably have limited options to visit less crowded stores, and as a result, a shopping trip is twice as risky as it is for someone from a wealthier area.
  • The publication of the study follows news of COVID vaccine availability, which lifted aviation and travel stocks, as well as restaurant stocks. The study might therefore be viewed by investors as backward-looking. Additionally, the top restaurant stocks by market cap often offer take-out, and have therefore been relatively more resilient to the impact of the virus.
  • The largest restaurants by market cap are McDonald's (NYSE:MCD), Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), Chipotle (NYSE:CMG), Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM), Restaurant Brands International (NYSE:QSR), Domino's Pizza (NYSE:DPZ), Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI), Dunkin Brands (NASDAQ:DNKN), Aramark (NYSE:ARMK), Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ:TXRH) and Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN).
  • Earlier: Pandemic closures see restaurants hit the hardest.
  • For Premium and PRO subscribers: Given the remarkable performance of Seeking Alpha's Quant Ratings, it's worth noting that two restaurant stocks have a Very Bullish quant rating. Here's the list of restaurant stocks sorted by Quant Rating.

Recommended For You

Related Stocks

SymbolLast Price% Chg
MCD--
McDonald's Corporation
CMG--
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.
YUM--
Yum! Brands, Inc.
QSR--
Restaurant Brands International Inc.
DPZ--
Domino's Pizza, Inc.