Required Minimum Area is based solely on the circular area around each person in order to maintain the desired distance from other people. Practical Minimum Area considers that people would be arranged in columns and rows such that the area of a square is required around each person in filling a space. Practical Minimum Area is always greater than Required Minimum Area.
The program's output area is for people spaced outdoors on level ground with fresh air circulation.The guidelines provided do not consider additional spacing needed in an internal room. For example, the following are not considered:
- The impact of the room dimensions and shape on the area required (i.e., this is not considered for the calculation based on entering the number of people).
- Interior room obstacles or layout, such as chairs and furniture.
- Requirements for non-obstructed entrance and exits (and paths), etc.
- Fire safety laws and guidelines.
The people are assumed to be standing, not sitting or lying down. Additionally people are "point masses" with no depth. People will be packed so as to have the "Loose packing of sand grains" rather than a "More compact packing": see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packing_problems
Simply to make it easy for everyone to recognize how much space is required to conduct a safe meeting or event. The initial interest was to plan the conduct of New England Town Meetings. It was well received and many suggested that it could be used by others to plan and execute safe meetings, events and workplaces.