Bioaerosols: What’s your Indoor Dining Plan for Winter?
COVID-19 continues to roll on globally, and as a collective society, we’ve had to adapt and educate ourselves quickly as to how to avoid a sometimes-deadly contagion. Research suggests the likelihood of COVID-19 becoming endemic, which means it will be a part of the landscape. A permanent, contagious virus we need to live with until there is a vaccine.
For the restaurant industry, this has been a major shock to the ecosystem, putting some much-loved restaurants out of business permanently. For those that are still standing, businesses have had to pivot to a takeout model and/or dining outdoors. For local Coloradans, we know dining outside in 30-degree weather is a non-starter.
With the evidence we do have, we know being in an enclosed space with a possibly infected person who is not wearing a mask increases your chances of inhaling a bioaerosol. A bio-aerosol are airborne particles that are formed from nearly any process that involves biological materials. Bioaerosols are just about everywhere, it’s biology. People sharing spaces, breathing shared air, and expelling bioaerosols exponentially increases risk.
As a society, we are at an impasse. We’d like to continue dining out with friends and family, patronizing our favorite restaurants, and celebrating the holidays. However, indoor air quality must be central to any health strategy and for restaurants to be free of risk from precious diners and their much-needed dollars.
We’re here to help. From working in collaboration with the AIA to reconfigure what the ideal indoor dining situation should be to dedicating the past six months to research, identify, and test indoor air quality solutions. We are about to release our whitepaper to share with restauranteurs to help them understand what they can do to maximize patronage this winter.
If you are interested in a free copy of our AIA Restaurant Design in a Pandemic or our DMA Restaurant whitepaper, please contact us!
We’ve got the resources, expertise, and commitment to get you through these tough times.
Resources:
- Center for Disease Control, September 2020
- University of Florida Research Center
- Infectious Disease Advisor
Image Credit: Modern Restaurant Management, 2020