One year after smoking was banned in restaurants in Virginia, a state whose history is intrinsically tied to tobacco, more than 90 percent of the establishements are complying, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.
Since the broad ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, which allows smoking in private clubs or in rooms that are enclosed and separately ventilated, passed the Virginia General Assembly in 2009, about 93 percent of restaurants have gone smoke-free indoors and the rest have areas that are vented separately and enclosed, the Health Department reported.
The department said that about two-thirds of restaurants were smoke-free before the law passed and that 98 percent of those inspected since the law took effect last year we in compliance with the ban.
