UW Conducting Survey On Health And Puyallup's Restaurant Industry

PUYALLUP, WA — A study from UW Tacoma is asking Puyallup restaurateurs and restaurant patrons to share their experiences navigating the coronavirus pandemic.

The project, helmed by Milgard School economist Margo Bergman, is trying to determine how concerns about public health and concerns about the economy are clashing.

“There are two kinds of uncertainties we are facing,” Bergman said. "People have been out of work and may not have enough money to return to their standard level of economic activity and the other kind of uncertainty involves public health and whether measures taken by businesses address people’s concerns. Bottomline is, we do not know if people aren’t going out because they don’t have the money or they are afraid of getting COVID-19."

Bergman says the ultimate goal of the project is to find the best way to ensure the public's trust in health safety practices, while also facilitating economic recovery as the pandemic wanes.

“We’re focusing on restaurants because that’s where the public health uncertainty is likely to be the greatest because eating a meal means having to take off your mask,” Bergman said.

In particular, the survey is seeking answers from eateries in either near the Puyallup Main Street or from the South Hill Mall area.

"Puyallup is interesting because it has two economic drivers. One is Main Street, which is mostly local businesses and the other is their mall which is mostly larger chains," said Bergman. "So, this also gives us a way to differentiate between trust centers and who the public thinks does a better job with public health."

Both the consumer and business surveys can be found here, as can more information on the project.