Source: 9news.com This one is in Denver. Google “outdoor dining igloo” to see numerous other examples.
I’ve addressed the issue of outdoor restaurant seating on several occasions, most recently in Post #830. In that last post, I noted that Fairfax County was considering changing its regulations to allow fully-enclosed and heated tents to count as outdoor restaurant seating. Continue reading Post #875: Preparing for a hard winter, 6: Restaurants
Edit: See Post #854. The simple method that I describe below was recommended by experts for use in the Vice Presidential debate. Engineers refer to this as a “Corsi box”, after the air quality expert who first advocated for its use.
Original post follows.
The CDC has finally started doing some epidemiology that will help ordinary citizens to judge the risks of certain activities. And the very first thing their research highlighted was the risk from dining in restaurants. In their small-scale study of a sample of individuals with COVID-like symptoms, persons who tested positive for COVID-19 were twice as likely to have gone to restaurants in the past two weeks, compared to those who tested negative.
I started to write up my own analysis of this issue of risk. But I got sidetracked by an email discussion about the coming crisis that restaurants in the Town of Vienna are likely to face, if COVID-19 gets any worse, or if the economy gets any worse. We don’t need any more analysis. We need a solution that would plausibly increase the safety of indoor dining.
So, instead of just analyzing the situation, I’m going to offer you my cheap solution for safer indoor dining. In a nutshell, use ceiling-mounted box fans, with high-end air filters, to bathe each table in its own individual stream or “curtain” of clean air. And to sweep any virus-laden air down to floor level, for further filtering and recirculation.
Detail follows.