We Disinfect Our Indoor Air & Take many other precautions For Your Safety and for the safety of our staff

At the 5 Point and Mecca, we don’t just provide great comfort food and stiff drinks, we strive to provide a place to make new friends, socialize and build community. We feel it is essential to provide spaces for people to drink, eat, drink, hangout with others, and discuss what’s happening in their lives, their city and the world. A dive bar/ diner has always been known as a place to gather, to celebrate, or simply unwind. 

While we feel all these activities are essential, we also understand how crucial it is to do them safely. So we have developed a comprehensive Covid-19 safety plan which includes staff temperature checks prior to work; surface cleaning and sanitizing; touchless ordering; physical distancing; use of personal protective equipment (PPE) (yes we require masks for customers and staff); and installation of virus filtering Merv-13 filters on the HVAC system. We have taken the extra step of building partitions to keep customers and staff safely separated from each other. This includes partitions between tables and booths, and plexiglass walls between customers and staff and other customers at the counter seating. Our patio is covered and heated and has large plexiglass walls separating tables. And we gutted and remodeled our kitchen so it’s easier to keep clean and staff can more safely distance while working. Our standard is what it will take to keep staff safe as they work 8 hour shifts and come into contact with many customers. If the staff is safe, customers will be very, very safe. (…continues below photos…)

And now as we strive to be one of the safest places to work, eat and drink indoor in the state, we are the first restaurant in Seattle, and one of only a few nationally, to install what we feel is an incredible technology called Upper Room Germicidal UV-C Lights which disinfects our indoor air. We believe this is a technology that will allow people to safely come inside bars and restaurants as we work our way through the Covid-19 pandemic.

WHAT IS IT?

We now know that when someone who has Covid-19 breathes, talks, coughs or sneezes, they are exhaling tiny aerosol droplets that can linger in the air and spread the Sars-CoV-2 virus. Working with Dr. Bruce L Davidson, MD MPH, a pulmonary physician, researcher, and expert in respiratory transmission of infection, we have carefully installed GUVC lights in our ceiling, creating a “killing zone" for these droplets. We are using ceiling fans to pull exhaled air upward into this zone where the Germicidal UV-C light can destroy the virus' genetic material, annihilating the virus. This system achieves the equivalent of 16 or more air changes per hour - more air changes per hour than the CDC standard of 12-per-hour for hospitals. We have also improved the ventilation in our bathrooms so that with the doors shut other than when people enter or leave, air is effectively moved out of these rooms to the outdoors.

 IS IT SAFE?

You may have heard that UV light can be dangerous. But UV-C light is different than UV-A or UV-B, the types of UV light your doctor tells you to avoid.  The system we have installed has been carefully engineered for our space and has been tested for efficacy in the killing zone above and safety in the people zone below. Rest assured that the system administers only a low-dose of UV-C, as approved by the CDC & World Health Organization for use around the world in tuberculosis (TB) clinics, hospitals, and homeless shelters. With just 48 seconds of exposure, these lights are 99.9% effective at killing bacteria that causes TB and the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, and it is safe. In addition to protecting against the Sars-CoV-2 virus, viruses in the air pulled up by our fans that can cause the common cold or the flu will also be inactivated.

 WILL IT WORK?

Upper Room GVUC is not a new technology. The first Upper Room Germicidal UV-C Light system was installed in hospitals in 1936, and in schools in 1937. It was successful in limiting the spread of TB, measles and mumps. In 1999, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended UV-C for control of tuberculosis, and in 2003 the US CDC sanctioned it for such. Upper Room UV-C disinfection is the oldest type of air disinfecting system and has been studied extensively, used successfully in limiting the spread of airborne viruses, and is approved by the US Center for Disease Control and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Controls.

 We are fortunate to be working with Dr. Davidson, the former president of the National Tuberculosis Controllers Association and member of the Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis. Dr. Davidson, now a Seattle resident, ran a busy division in the Philadelphia Health Department for four years during an out-of-control epidemic of TB. He successfully utilized Upper Room UV-C light and upward-pulling ceiling fans to protect medical staff and patients in the Philadelphia TB Clinic starting in 1993, with expert measurements to assure TB killing above and safety below.

 We have made investments into this system to protect our staff and customers from the Sars-CoV-2 virus, as well as other airborne viruses. This technology, combined with the additional measures we have taken, goes a long way towards keeping you, our community, and our staff safe. Please note: For all of this to work, we still rely on you to follow the rules; practicing social distancing, using hand sanitizer when you enter, and keeping your mask on unless you are seated and eating or drinking. Together we can create safer indoor space and beat this virus. 

 This information is not medical advice, but for information only. For medical advice, please consult your healthcare provider.

Links to more information about the efficacy and safety of Upper Room Germicidal UVC lighting:

§ The History of Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation for Air Disinfection Paper on UVCGI from 2010 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2789813/  

This article reviews that history of UVGI for air disinfection, starting with its biological basis, moving to its application in the real world, and ending with its current status.

Edward Nardell, a professor of environmental health, immunology, and infectious diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Cambridge, MA, USA

§ Webinar from William P Bahnfleth, Ph.D., P.E., FASHRAE, FASME, FISIAQ from the Department of Engineering at Penn State University. https://register.gotowebinar.com/recording/viewRecording/919543970759682317/8373797400651662856/kchang@nytimes.com?registrantKey=9203824226017402127&type=ATTENDEEEMAILRECORDINGLINK

§ Coronavirus Sparks New Interest In Using Ultraviolet Light To Disinfect Indoor Air  https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/07/13/890387205/coronavirus-sparks-new-interest-in-using-ultraviolet-light-to-disinfect-indoor-a?fbclid=IwAR2UB3kiomBt78PxdI7yB3VKOcNdQGayCy9DruHnTdOu-IhNoya6sMCncxY

§ Ultraviolet radiation is a strong disinfectant. It may be what our schools, hospitals and airports need  https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-07-ultraviolet-strong-disinfectant-schools-hospitals.html

§ Scientists Consider Indoor Ultraviolet Light to Zap Coronavirus in the Air - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/07/science/ultraviolet-light-coronavirus.html

§  Fighting the Coronavirus With Innovative Tech  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/business/fighting-covid-19-innovative-tech.html?auth=login-email&login=email  

§  Airborne Spread of SARS-CoV-2 and a Potential Role for Air Disinfection: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2766821

§  Coronavirus UV air killing dose is the same as for tuberculosis: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17822117/

§  Safe UV dosing to kill tuberculosis: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4595666/pdf/rccm.201501-0060OC.pdf

§  Further details of upper room UV installation: https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/suppl/10.1164/rccm.201501-0060OC/suppl_file/mphaphlele_data_supplement.pdf

§  **[ important] UV safety report: 3611 people in 6 US cities: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2099326/pdf/phr123000052.pdf

§  Explanation of UV for coronavirus: https://dailycaller.com/2020/04/17/davidson-uv-lights-could-be-used-to-fight-airborne-coronavirus/