n Monday, word slowly began trickling
out of Olympia that restaurants and bars, which have been closed for indoor dining since mid-November, can now adopt new COVID-19 safety guidelines defining "open-air" dining.
As early as Tuesday, several establishments across the Spokane area announced they'd begin seating customers inside at 25 percent capacity while keeping open all bay-style doors, usually reserved for warm weather, to increase outside airflow.
The new open-air rules came just days before many restaurants across the region saw recent investments in temporary outdoor structures, mostly thin-walled event tents, badly damaged in the historic Jan. 13 windstorm.
Under the new guidelines from the governor's office, open air seating is defined as "a structure with one or more permeable exterior walls, allowing outside air to easily exchange within occupied seating areas and maintain carbon dioxide levels below 450ppm."