I was thinking about reopening things, and how it could best be done in an ideal world. I mean, right now is definitely not the right time to open everything in America, but you know, people are stupid.
According to
this blog post, from a professional immunologist, the main things that cause risk for starting a corona cluster are the size of the space you are in, the number of people there, what they are doing (singing and exercise generates more particles in the air), and how long people are there.
So maybe we should determine whether it's safe for an establishment to reopen by looking at their square footage, and the square footage of the rooms people will spend time in. Massive stores like Wal Mart and the average grocery store in my area present low risk, because they are massive, but the corner bodega is too small, so maybe don't let the bodega reopen? Then again, if the bodega can show that people spend less time in a bodega than in wal mart, then maybe allow the bodega to open?
Ideally, there should be a reopening function, that takes into account square footage, average time spent there, average population in the establishment, and increased aerobic activity into account, and then spits out a yes or no answer. Time spent in a store, average population, and aerobic activity levels are difficult to know, though, so maybe just go by square footage and review the other factors qualitatively?
For stores that are too small to reopen by square footage alone, maybe they can still operate, but customers can't enter. So they could do things like curbside drop off and pick up for the local vacuum repair shop, or maybe restaurants could set up an outdoor food court on some public property that is surrounded by small restaurants.
Gyms definitely have to stay closed, no matter the size, because of the aerobic effects of exercise, and the amount of time people spend in there. Same goes for manufacturing facilities where workers have to do hard manual labor that increases their aerobic activity. If the factory workers are just pushing buttons, though, then let them open.
Food trucks should still operate everywhere.
I'm just brainstorming... what do you guys think?
