NYC Eatery Checks Customer's Temperatures As COVID-19 Precaution

WEST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN —A West Village restaurant is taking the body temperature of everyone who walks through its doors as a precaution during the coronavirus outbreak, Eater first reported.

Sushi Katsuei, which also has a location in Park Slope, told the food outlet that they started testing the temperatures of all diners, vendors, delivery workers and staff as a way to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which has unusual changes in body temperature as one of its primary symptoms.

“I don’t know what else to do,” co-owner Aye Aye Swe told Eater. “Customers are worried. So am I.”

Swe told Eater that business has been especially slow in the last few weeks.

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So far, none of the restaurants staff, customers or delivery workers have tested higher-than normal temperatures, though the World Health Organization notes that carriers of the disease may be contagious up to five days before exhibiting symptoms.

The unusual practice is one of many ways businesses in New York City are adapting to the spread of coronavirus, which has tested the city's economy and is not likely to improve anytime soon as New York City enters a coronavirus state of emergency.

All gatherings of more than 500 people or more have been banned in New York City under a measure announced Thursday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. De Blasio followed up by cutting in half the legal occupancy of the city's bars and restaurants.