With Fresno hospitals in COVID-19 crisis, I dined on Italian food and disconnect
With hospitals in Fresno and Clovis overwhelmed by the Delta variant, I sipped a delicious pink cocktail made from pisco and Aperol spritz mixed with watermelon and lemon flavors.
While doctors and nurses worked 12-hour shifts to handle the surge of sick COVID-19 patients, I tucked into an appetizer of tomato risotto croquettes filled with mozzarella that melted in my mouth.
As Fresno County health officials pondered whether to ration healthcare — choosing who receives life-saving measures and who doesn’t — I munched on pepperoni pizza cooked to the perfect gooey yet snappy consistency in a brick oven.
Glancing around the expansive dining room of north Fresno’s newest, trendiest Italian restaurant, every table and bar stool was occupied and attended to by a large service staff. I counted two masks, both worn by employees working behind the counter. The entire scene gave the impression that life in the San Joaquin Valley had returned to normal, irrespective of the pandemic ripping through our local hospitals.
It wasn’t on the menu, but you couldn’t help but taste the disconnect.
Saturday night was my first indoor dining experience in Fresno and Clovis since the pandemic started. (I ate three restaurant meals during a July trip to Yellowstone National Park and took a one-way flight to Salt Lake City. Otherwise we camped and made our own food.) For the last 18 months it’s been a steady diet of home cooking, takeout orders or patio dining when heat and smoke conditions allow.
When a friend made reservations at Annesso Pizzeria and extended an invitation, I halfway expected we’d be sitting outside. But when I arrived and saw that wouldn’t be the case (none of the outdoor tables were set up), it didn’t act as much of a deterrence. Any apprehensions I felt proved no match for the smells and atmosphere coming from inside the restaurant.
Even though I’m vaccinated (got my two Pfizer shots in April), I continue to wear a mask indoors while in public settings. Besides trying to avoid catching COVID-19 myself, I am conscientious of not wanting to transmit the virus to anyone else. Just the way my brain works. That is, it turns out, the prospect of a great dining experience caused me to lower my mask along with my guard.
Will I regret that decision? Not as long as I can still taste and smell what I eat and drink.
Experts (and by that I mean infectious-disease epidemiologists) frame questions concerning the safety of indoor dining as a risk assessment. There is no such thing as zero risk. Rather, it’s a matter of degrees of risk based on factors such as your vaccination status, levels of coronavirus transmission in your community and your own personal health and living situation.
In the best case, you and everyone at your table is vaccinated. You’re eating in an uncrowded, well-ventilated space and live in a community with low transmission rates. All the servers wear masks, as do you when talking to one or moving about the restaurant.
In the worst, you’re not vaccinated and neither is anyone in your party. You live in a community with low vaccination and high transmission rates. The space is crowded, nobody wears masks, and the vaccination status of your fellow diners and restaurant employees is a mystery.
Vaccine rates not equal
In Fresno County, where it took nine months to administer 1 million shots, just under 46% of the population is fully vaccinated — well below the 57% statewide average.
However, like most things around here, the numbers are not created equal. The 93720 north Fresno ZIP code where Annesso is located boasts a 67% fully vaccinated rate, according to data from the California Department of Public Health. (Some north Fresno and Clovis ZIP codes, including 93730 and 93619, are in the mid-70%.)
Compare that to the 93721 of downtown Fresno, where the vaccination rate is 38%. Or the 51% rates for 93701 (Lowell and Jefferson), 93728 (Tower District) and 93705 (west central Fresno).
Those numbers might lead someone to conclude that eating inside a north Fresno restaurant involves less risk than one in the south part of town — except there’s no way of knowing where your fellow diners or the employees live. So it’s still guesswork, risk assessment without knowing all the risks.
Judging by the stink our local politicians made when indoor dining was prohibited, we can’t expect any help or guidance from them. Unlike Los Angeles or the Bay Area, no mask orders or vaccine mandates will be enacted locally. Not even while our hospitals are overwhelmed, necessitating the transfer of critically ill patients outside the region, and California National Guard triage teams needed to come in and bail out our overworked doctors and nurses.
Nope. We’re on our own here, each one of us left to our own devices and personal choices regardless of the community impact. Try as we might to ignore that reality over a sumptuous meal enjoyed inside a local restaurant, you can still taste the disconnect.
This story was originally published September 17, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
