A Message To KDKA Radio's Marty Griffin

Marty, I heard some of your show yesterday.

I heard the part where you toss a racist caller off the air.

This was the guy who, when he asked for the reason why some families couldn't just buy laptops for their own kids to use at school, you answered, "Because they're poor." To which he responded, "Yea but they can afford to buy drugs..." and that's where you called him a racist and hung up on him - good for you.

I also heard your conversation with County Executive Rich Fitzgerald where you expressed support for the local restaurant community and pushed back on some of the restrictions in place to slow down the spread of the coronavirus. You said (if my memory serves) that there was no evidence that going out to a restaurant was linked to the spread of the virus.

You're wrong. Let me do your homework for you (but just this once).

Chris Potter, over at WESA posted this recently:

You probably already saw this chart showing where people with COVID told contact tracers they had been: It was released last week. But one upside of COVID is that it confirms the wisdom of life choices I already made: drinking alone, not going to the gym, and avoiding Florida. pic.twitter.com/5WBQmiznJj

— Chris Potter (@CPotterPgh) August 4, 2020

See the bluish chart?

Some evidence for you.

Then there's this from The Hill:

An uptick in in-restaurant spending can predict an increase in COVID-19 cases over three weeks, according to a research note from J.P. Morgan.

"Looking across categories of card spending, we find that the level of spending in restaurants three weeks ago was the strongest predictor of the rise in new virus cases over the subsequent three weeks," wrote Jesse Edgerton, of the bank's economic and research department.

Restaurant purchases with cards presented in person, rather than online, were particularly predictive.

Some more evidence for you, Marty.

And then there's this. Here's the abstract of the study:

During January 26–February 10, 2020, an outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus disease in an air-conditioned restaurant in Guangzhou, China, involved 3 family clusters. The airflow direction was consistent with droplet transmission. To prevent the spread of the virus in restaurants, we recommend increasing the distance between tables and improving ventilation.

Do you need any more evidence, Marty? This only took me about a half an hour.