At the one by me, people get out of their cars a lot. To go to the concession stand, bathroom, etc. To talk to their friends. Kids running around.
Closing the concession stand (which has indoor lines) would be the first obvious move, but the one by me makes a significant portion of it's profits from the concession stand, would probably have to raise prices non-trivially.
I agree about "Activities that would normally be responsible for transmission" -- and I think that is mostly _being near other people_. We need to be ruthlessly minimizing that. Depending on the drive-in, it may be not be doing so as much as you would imagine, is all.
Anyhow whether the health departments are right or wrong to not letting be open, I think the "surge in drive-in attendance nationally" may not actually be a thing.
The only way I'd see this working is if you aren't allowed to exit your car at all. Being a guy, I guess I could piss into a bottle ...
I dunno, this whole thing just doesn't sound that appealing. I'd rather just watch a movie for much cheaper from my couch. It'd be one thing if there were some new huge blockbuster movie I wanted to see that could only be seen in theaters, but that's flat-out not happening anymore. All the big releases are either pushed back indefinitely or happening on streaming services too.
Aren't drive-in theaters generally cheaper than real theaters, though? Isn't that part of the point of them, that they're spartan and cost-effective to operate and thus are a most cost-effective option?
I don't know how much money people would be willing to pay to go to one.
Drive-ins have no less overhead. They require much more expensive D-Cinema projectors (for higher lumen output), more real estate, radio transmission equipment and all the same expenses as conventional theatres except potentially less manhours required to clean the 'auditoriums.' They are likely cheaper in your experience because drive-ins are almost exclusively independent and in rural areas.
Can I ask what kind of members-only clubs you're referring to that don't serve alcohol? That sounds curious. I do belong to a club or three here in the UK (internationally reciprocal, too) and while they can be rather selective and some do charge a pretty penny, they most certainly do have bars or a wine cellar with a respectable selection of beverages... Is there a meaning of "club" of which I'm not aware? Sorry if I'm being daft, it's been a long day.
Closing the concession stand (which has indoor lines) would be the first obvious move, but the one by me makes a significant portion of it's profits from the concession stand, would probably have to raise prices non-trivially.
I agree about "Activities that would normally be responsible for transmission" -- and I think that is mostly _being near other people_. We need to be ruthlessly minimizing that. Depending on the drive-in, it may be not be doing so as much as you would imagine, is all.
Anyhow whether the health departments are right or wrong to not letting be open, I think the "surge in drive-in attendance nationally" may not actually be a thing.