I’ve always thought the idea of Plexiglass covering everyone and everything to protect us from COVID-19 was a dumb idea. First of all, most people on either side of the plexiglass are in masks anyway, so isn’t this a little bit of overkill?

I’m so happy that someone finally thought to do some research on it. According to an article on NJ.com, a Princeton study – similarly confused by the whole plexiglass issue – decided to tackle it. The article describes the study, spearheaded by a professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University, which looks at Plexiglas’s effect on virus transmission.

And just as I suspected, the two guys behind the Plexiglass at 7-Eleven may have more of a shot of transmitting the virus to each other than they would if the Plexiglass weren’t there. I always thought it was strange that one of the recommendations for safety during the coronavirus is to be outside, yet we’re putting people in what really amounts to plastic cages. After all, aren’t all the “experts” recommending that we should be seeing other people only in well-ventilated spaces?

The researcher in the Princeton study, Dr. Howard A Stone, after studying airflows and how they may carry the virus, concluded “If you’re inside one of these barriers with someone, and they happen to be infected and you’re not aware of it, then you’re exposed even more to a higher concentration of what’s coming out, because the air inside one of these barriers won’t mix as well with its surroundings,” according to the article.

When the brilliant idea of eating outdoors in igloos came about, that was the first thing that came to my mind. Isn’t that defeating the purpose of eating outdoors? If you’re infected, even dining indoors you probably wont pass the virus to anyone at a neighboring table since presumably they’re 6 feet away. But with Plexiglass and igloos, your chances now of infecting the person enclosed in the bubble with you are so much higher.

Chalk this up to another illogical idea that they’ve come up with in the attempt to keep us all “safe” from the coronavirus.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco. Any opinions expressed are Judi's own.

NJ igloo outdoor dining in 2020

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