CHEERS TO PUB RETURN
Technology breakthrough could cut Covid risk in bars when rules ease
SCOTS engineers are leading a project to develop technology that could help pubs, restaurants and shops reduce Covid-19 risks and stay open – by minimising the spread of airborne droplets.
Currently, there is no unified system in place to help businesses decide how best to prevent the risk of infection indoors.
Airborne droplets can contain particles of the Covid-19 virus, produced when people carrying the infection breathe, cough, sneeze or speak.
Business owners say greater provision of outdoor spaces will be key to regaining public confidence in the safety of pubs and restaurants when they reopen in Scotland later this month.
It comes as shoppers flocked to high streets and drinkers downed pints as coronavirus restrictions were lifted in England yesterday.
Current research suggests that people sharing space with virus-carrying droplets could be infected when they breathe them in, or touch their face after coming into contact with surfaces where the droplets have settled.
Using existing mathematical models of how droplets are carried across indoor spaces, researchers from Glasgow University’s James Watt School of Engineering hope to develop a user-friendly online tool for businesses which will be capable of predicting their spread.
The system, which will be suitable for mobile devices, will allow users to custom-build detailed models of any indoor space and visualise how changes in seating arrangements, number of occupants and amount of ventilation affect the transport of droplets around the area.
The technology, which has been named Reliant, will also be able to model the impact of face-masks on the spread of droplets.
The project brings together experts in fluid mechanics, modelling and computation from five UK universities including Strathclyde and Cambridge.
Professor Andrea Cammarano, of the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering, said: “While vaccines are rolling out around the world, it’s likely that we will still need to maintain some level of social distancing for quite some time into the future.
“In the meantime, however, we still need to share indoor spaces with each other in places like schools, supermarkets and gyms.businesses, too, need to be able to stay open wherever possible to keep the economy running.
“Currently, there’s no unified system to help people decide how best to minimise the risk of infection indoors.
“Our hope is that Reliant will provide an easy-to-use platform to help anyone who has a responsibility for health and safety in an indoor space to keep people safe, both while we’re dealing with Covid-19 and for any similar pandemics we might face in coming years.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged people to “behave responsibly” as life took another step back towards normality, with indoor gyms, swimming pools, nail salons and zoos also welcoming customers back south of the border.
People in Wales were also enjoying renewed freedoms, with non-essential retail reopened and border restrictions eased to permit travel again with the rest of the UK and Ireland.
At the Royal Victoria Pavilion in Ramsgate, Kent, believed to be the biggest pub in the country, thirsty customers cheered as the first pints were served.
As Pippa Ingram, 51, received the first drink to be poured, she said:
“Absolutely delicious. It’s not gonna last long at all! That is banging.”
In Nottingham, a lengthy queue developed outside the city centre Primark store before it opened its doors, while London’s main shopping streets saw around 44 per cent of the pre-pandemic level of April.
Despite the relaxation in lockdown rules, social mixing indoors will remain heavily restricted.
Former government chief scientific adviser Sir David King, said: “From the point of view of the population itself, we’re all dying to get out of lockdown.
“From the point of view of the epidemic, I think it’s all a little bit more worrying.”
We still need to share indoor spaces with each other