Prior to the pandemic, I often took Elite Animation Academy students to Panera Bread. The lesson we learned this was was how to do thumbnail sketches rather than a larger sketch. Right now I am teaching classes virtually.
All of these thumbnails were done from the same table as we sipped a drink and watched people come and go. Some people spend time at Panera Bread doing work which makes them the perfect subject to sketch. If a group is just eating, then I pay attention to how much food they have and how high their drinks are to try and judge how much time I have to do a sketch before they leave.
I haven’t sketched in a restaurant or bar for over a year. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has allowed restaurants and bars to re-open at full capacity but I am not tempted to partake.
An MIT study showed that people who maintain 60 feet of distance from others indoors are no more protected than if they socially distanced by just 6 feet. This study challenges social distancing guidelines adopted across the world. There really isn’t much of a benefit to the 6-foot rule, especially when people are wearing masks. The researchers have developed a method of calculating exposure risk to Covid-19 in an indoor setting that factors in a variety of issues that could affect transmission, including the amount of time spent inside, air filtration and circulation, immunization, variant strains, mask use, and even respiratory activity such as breathing, eating, speaking or singing. The most important factor is how long you are inside with an infected person. The longer you are inside, the higher the chance of transmission. Weather 6 feet or 60 feet, distant, you are at a higher risk of infection if you are in the room with someone who is infected.
On April 23, 2021 Florida saw 5,464 new COVID-19 infections, and 63 more Florida residents died. 34,759 Florida residents are now dead.