SCOTS engineers are leading a project to develop technology that could help pubs, restaurants and shops reduced Covid-19 risk 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.
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.
Pubs, cafes and restaurants re-opened today in England for customers seated outdoors.
Professor Andrea Cammarano, of the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering, said: “Social distancing and the use of masks are two of the most effective measures in helping prevent the spread of Covid-19.
“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.”.
Business owners say greater provision of outdoor spaces will be key to re-gaining public confidence in the safety of pubs and restaurants when they re-open in Scotland later this month.
The council is said to be sitting on hundreds of temporary license applications for extended outdoor seating.
Restaurateurs say there is a need for something more permanent because the pandemic is likely to lead to radical and permanent shifts in dining habits.
The owner of Eusebi’s in the city’s west end, went so far as to say, “indoors is finished”.
Giovanna Eusebi believes the pandemic has created an opportunity to “reset” and create attractive, permanent, outdoor dining areas.
She said this was particularly important given that Glasgow will be “on the world’s stage” during the Cop26 climate change conference, which is due to take place later this year.
Ms Eusebi is collaborating with the owners of Crabshakk and Porter & Rye on a pilot idea for the Finnieston and Gibson Street areas of the city.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here