Restaurant and hospitality businesses prepare to reopen: guidelines.

As various states begin to ease stay-at-home restrictions and restaurants and hospitality business prepare to re-open, the National Restaurant Association has published guidelines for the restaurant industry on how to re-open safely. The task force that produced this guidance included the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), food industry representatives, and academic consultants.  The guidance covers food safety, cleaning and sanitizing the establishment, employee health monitoring, social distancing of patrons, and best practices. 

And for those establishments that will continue to operate for the time being on a take-out and/or delivery basis only, the FDA has published guidance for that kind of operation. 

Could these guidelines end up being used as a legal standard in liability cases against restaurants by patrons or employees claiming that they contracted the virus at the restaurant or as a result of take-out operations?