Abstract
The objective of this study is to evaluate whether trends in online restaurant table reservations can be used as an early indicator for a disease outbreak. We monitored table availability using OpenTable; an online restaurant table reservation site for cities in the USA and Mexico. We searched for available tables for lunch between 12-3:30pm and dinner between 6-10:30pm. Using time series analysis methods, we elucidated and compared the time series data of table availabilities to data collected for various disease outbreaks.