Understanding Changes in Spatial Accessibility to Restaurants During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Disentangling Closures, Inequity, Neighborhood, and Transportation Mode

Abstract

Among one of the more significant societal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions on people's movement accelerated, and in some cases outright caused, restaurant closures. By considering people's potential for both driving and walking to restaurants, this study aims to examine how restaurant closures are associated with neighborhood characteristics during the pandemic. To do so, we investigated changes in spatial accessibility to restaurants, identified hot spots of communities with large accessibility reductions, and explored relationships between the reductions and neighborhood characteristics in Leon County, Florida. Analysis showed that the area experiencing the largest reductions in spatial access to restaurants varied by transportation modes and the overall geographic patterns in accessibility reductions significantly differed. Communities with significant reductions in car-based accessibility were areas with a small percentage of the older and non-White populations and a longer distance to the central area. On the other hand, only being a shorter distance to the central area was more related to hot spots of changes in walking accessibility. Findings show geographic patterns of restaurant closures, which interacted with people's modes of transportation. As such, the closures most substantially affected people in more suburban areas who might rely on driving during the pandemic.