When outdoor dining isn’t: Hamilton doctor says it’s all about airflow

When is outdoor dining not outdoor enough in the COVID-19 era?

The answer might not seem straightforward, but Dr. Zain Chagla is certain a fully-tented restaurant patio" he spotted on the weekend fails to meet the standard.

The infectious disease doctor at St. Joseph's Healthcare snapped a drive-by picture of the structure - that he is quick to say was outside Hamilton - and tweeted it.

Guys, the outdoors is safe - but outdoors means good airflow and open space ... this is not outdoors," he wrote with the picture.

I am 100 per cent pro-outdoor spaces, and that people can do things safely outdoors," he told The Spectator. But I've seen a few of these (tents) pop up, and that one was the biggest abomination of them all. It was tough to see, and with people going inside it."

The province recently announced outdoor dining and drinking would be permitted even for regions in the grey lockdown level that Hamilton reverted to Monday, so long as tables are spaced and limited to members of the same household.

Perhaps the phrase outdoor dining" should be amended to high airflow dining" because Chagla said that is the key to staying safe from aerosolized COVID-19 droplets.

You need fresh outdoors air to be mixing in the space: air coming in, and air going out. One point of air entry and exit is not perfect, but is better than nothing."

He said that a patio with a tent-like roof overhead, but entirely open sides, is reasonably safe, but safer still is an alleyway patio with no roof covering at all.

If you are going out to eat with your family, the best is a table outdoors, with open everything," he told The Spectator. Second best is a patio that has no roof over it, and third best is having a roof but multiple sides open."

He said enclosed bubble" structures featured on some restaurant patios are safe, so long as restaurant employees don't enter them.

As for spacing of tables in an outdoor setting, he said it's safer to have ten tables on a patio with entirely open air than two tables spread apart in an enclosed tent.

He suggested that warmer air on the way offers double-pronged hope: it's more pleasant for patios, and preliminary data suggests virus droplets dissolve and evaporate more quickly in warmer environments.

Jon Wells is a Hamilton-based reporter and feature writer for The Spectator. Reach him via email: jwells@thespec.com