‘A pumpkin spice latte? In that case, can I scan your QR code, please?’

So, can you enter the cafés and restaurants on campus without showing anyone the QR code in the CoronaCheck app on your phone? It differs from one place to the next. If you order a tuna salad bun and croquette from Erasmus Sport before 5pm, you won’t be asked to show your code. However, after 5pm you will. The New Fork in the Food Plaza does not check QR codes at all. “To the best of our understanding, the university would arrange all that. So far we haven’t heard a thing,” says a New Fork employee.

Sohmi’s staff distinguishes between the tables that are officially part of the restaurant and the benches in the middle of the Food Plaza. “Starting from today, we will check QR codes if people want to have their meal here. However, if they’re only picking up a takeaway meal or if they choose to have their meal in the middle of the plaza, we don’t need to perform a check,” says the restaurant’s chef.

Second-year Criminology students Roos, Pleun and Melissa are enjoying the last bit of sunshine for a while at the tables near the Erasmus Pavilion. “When we placed our order, we were asked for our QR codes,” says Roos. “We’re all vaccinated, so it’s all fine,” adds Melissa.

For their part, Hannes and Koen, two Business Information Management students, don’t mind showing their QR codes, either. “It’s a bit confusing, though,” says Hannes. “On the one hand, the restrictions have been eased, and on the other hand, they’re introducing this check.” His fellow student Koen explains why. “I think the idea is precisely that they’re introducing this check so as to be able to get rid of all the other restrictions.”

At Starbucks, the QR code check already seems to have become part of the checkout routine. “A pumpkin spice latte? To take away or have here? To have here? In that case, can I scan your QR code, please?” At Tosti World, staff have downloaded the app allowing them to scan CoronaCheck QR codes, but they are still waiting for their manager to explain how to use it.

Those instructions should be given this week, says Marc van Hooijdonk, the owner of Tosti World and also chair of the Food Plaza’s association of undertakings. Van Hooijdonk says that each university seems to have its own approach. “If a venue is regarded a part of an education institution, no QR codes need be checked.” By way of example, he mentions the cafeteria inside the Tinbergen Building, where people can order tomato soup or a frikadel without having to show a QR code. However, the Food Plaza and the Pavilion are subject to the rules governing cafés and restaurants. Van Hooijdonk says that the Food Plaza ‘in its entirety’ constitutes a ‘restaurant-style business’, meaning that everyone on its premises must be asked to produce a QR code. The situation isn’t entirely clear cut, though. “Many students come here to study rather than eat.”