Kapitan Tan Yit Sheng
KUCHING (Sept 14): There is no reason to disallow dine-in at coffee shops as most are well-ventilated, said Kuching Coffee Shop and Restaurant Owners Association committee member Tan Yit Sheng.
“As far as ventilation is concerned, coffee shops are different as 95 per cent are open space. Most of them use fans instead of air-conditioning in enclosed spaces.
“It is not necessary to wait until they complete the (requirements) of the ventilation standard operating procedures (SOPs). Coffeeshops should be allowed for dine-in already,” he said when contacted today.
He was responding to the SOPs on ventilation improvement for non-residential buildings, which was released by the Ministry of Local Government and Housing (MLGH).
Most coffeeshops fall under the category of Building/Space with Wide Front and Back Entrance Openings.
The minimum requirements for the air dilution and air exchange under this category are to allow natural ventilation as usual through all windows and openings at all times, to operate ceiling fans (if any) at all times, to direct wall fans or portable fans (if any) towards openings such as windows and doors, and the wall fans or portable fans should not blow towards the occupants.
Tan pointed out that most coffee shops have already fulfilled those requirements and operators are taking great care to ensure that they do not contract the virus themselves.
“Honestly speaking, as coffee shop operators, we are also afraid of getting the virus. We are also front-liners facing customers so of course we are scared.
“In order to prevent ourselves from getting the virus, we have to adhere to the SOPs. Not only adhere but we tighten the SOPs ourselves. We make sure customers adhere to the SOPs. That’s why coffee shop clusters are very minimal or even none, compared to factory, housing estate, or shopping mall clusters,” he said.
Jointly developed by MLGH and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), the SOPs aim to achieve optimal air dilution, air exchange, and air filtration in all non-residential buildings in Sarawak to keep the risk of Covid-19 transmission as low as possible.