'Safety First' Restaurant Guidelines Aim To Keep 'Workers Safe During COVID-19,' Says Corby Kummer

Virus Outbreak Massachusetts — A pedestrian wearing a protective mask passes a restaurant open for takeout service during the coronavirus pandemic, Tuesday, May 12, 2020, in the North End neighborhood of Boston.

Hannah Uebele is a producer for Under the Radar with Callie Crossley and previously worked as associate producer for Boston Public Radio. She graduated from Tufts University with a B.S. in English and Environmental Studies. She's a proud Delawarean but has found herself saying "wicked" more and more often, so the Bostonian metamorphosis is well underway.Contact: hannah_uebele@wgbh.org

May 15, 2020

Updated August 07, 2023

Food writer Corby Kummer joined Boston Public Radio on Thursday to speak about his new set of guidelines designed to help restaurants reopen.

Kummer had noticed many different restaurant safety guidelines regarding COVID-19. "I saw those, and thought maybe it would be good if there was one streamlined set of guidelines, and through my Aspen Institute program, I was able to line up funding."

Through the Aspen Institute, Kummer has released a set of guidelines this week called " Safety First: Serving Food and Protecting People During Covid-19."

"They're focused entirely on worker safety in back of the house and everything in these guidelines is to keep workers safe during COVID-19," he said. "The most important thing is figuring out who is sick, keeping them out of work, and of course having flexible sick time."

Kummer is a senior editor at The Atlantic, an award-winning food writer, and a senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition and Policy.