Unanimity Rule and COVID Safety

My whole life I have generally defaulted to using majority rule in my informal, social decision making. For example, if I am deciding where to do dinner with a group I may ask friends to "like" the text message for the restaurant they prefer and then select the restaurant with the most votes. While the 50% cut off involved in majority rule is fairly arbitrary, in low stakes decisions, like the restaurant example, people are generally comfortable with the ultimate selection just knowing that a greater number of their friends prefer it. Additionally, as people do not want to spend a great deal of time making informal decisions, they consent to cede some control and accept a decision rule that may at times place them in the minority with no way to change the outcome.

The coronavirus pandemic has overwhelmingly changed this "default" decision rule to one of unanimity even in informal, social settings. This is due to the significantly larger potential negative costs that could be incurred by a decision that is not in the favor of every single person in the group. For example, if a group of friends is deciding what activity to do this evening, they should must to the comfort and safety of the most cautious or vulnerable person in the group. If we assume that sitting out from the activity is not an option, people will not want to accept a lack of control over the decision making process even if it means more time and effort to work out a solution. As there is some level of uncertainty as to the safety preferences of everyone in the group, the rational individual (in a small group decision) would choose a unanimity decision rule to protect against the chance that their safety preferences are in the minority.