Food writer Corby Kummer spoke to Boston Public Radio on Friday about a new program in Cambridge aiming to help small local businesses during the upcoming winter season of the pandemic. The Patio Heater Reimbursement Program will reimburse restaurants up to $250.00 per portable patio heater.

“I hope other cities will take it up, subsidizing these outdoor heaters is great,” he said. “Having the subsidy to give people indoor ventilators with proper MERV 13 filters I think would be a next step.”

Kummer is a senior editor at The Atlantic, an award-winning food writer, and a senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition and Policy.