It's Time to Clear the Air

A recent New Yorker article warns about a "ragtag coalition of public-health activists" who want us to wear masks forever! And then the New York Times published an article about "The Last Holdouts" who wear masks when others have moved on. The framing and headlines of these pieces put a target for all unprocessed emotions on to anyone still wearing a mask. Then yesterday, without a hint of irony or any attempt to apologize for their part in the fiasco, the New York Times published an article about how misinformation is exasperating doctors as Covid-19 continues to spread!! Ya think?!?

Here's the thing: How long we wear masks should be determined by data, not an arbitrary moment that a popular votes decides is enough. It's like telling people to boil their tap water. If nothing happens to clean things up, then it could go on forever, absolutely. BUT if we take measures to clean the water enough so nothing harmful is in it, then people can stop boiling their water. That's pretty straightforward, right? Similarly, if we start getting serious about cleaning the air, then we won't have to wear masks again. We can reduce not just Covid infections, but reduce the spread of all viruses, even the common cold! 

You'd think we'd be so excited by this idea that governments everywhere would get on board. AND - there's a bonus - many people who are against masks are actually for clean air. We should be capitalizing on the ONE THING that might unify us!! Everyone wins if we have cleaner air everywhere!! 

But instead, we're just stuck here waiting for the moment that governments realize cleaning the air is cheaper than allowing airborne illnesses to destroy the health of workers and their children and thus destroy the economy. 

What's necessary is pretty simple and has been outlined over and over, (OSPE, IACA, Guidebook from U of Toronto, the Lancet guidebook, this great thread by Dr. Jeff Gilchrist, and engineer Joey Fox has been all over this from the beginning), but too many just aren't listening. Back in July Fox made it clear that, 

"Poorly ventilated buildings cause more economic damage than the cost of fixing them. It's not even close. Pre-Covid, $1 spend on ventilation leads to $160 payback."

And that Lancet link says, 

"Cognitive testing of students shows a 5% decrease in 'power of attention' in poorly ventilated classrooms. Researchers equate this to the effect of a student skipping breakfast." 

Here's a four-point plan of action that Trudeau could fund directly, since clean air doesn't appear to be anybody's responsibility: 

1. Check the current HVAC system regularly. This 30 minute panel discussion explains the minimum standards we need. Upgrade filters to MERV-13 or higher; set HVAC systems to "on" not "auto" and target a minimum of 6 air changes per hour (ACH). Bring buildings into compliance with standards established by ASHRAE. Confirm through CO2 monitoring. If it gets over 700 ppm, it means people are breathing in one another's exhalations, which is gross. Once CO2 is over 1,000 ppm, it can affect people even if there's no virus in the room - making everyone sleepy. (Set it for fresh air in your car, too, to help ward off sleepy driving!). At 1,400 ppm it can cause significant cognitive impairment, cutting basic decision-making abilities by 25%. My old classroom regularly reached over 2,000 ppm (by contrast, the board office has never reached over 550 on my CO2 monitor). There's a calculator here to find the expected steady-state CO2 level for an ASHRAE-compliant room. One study found that just better ventilation alone can reduce the spread of viruses by 80%.

2. If a ventilation system isn't able to get to at least 6 ACH, bring in fresh air with an open window, or add in filtration by allowing CR boxes everywhere. Our schools are adding HEPA to classrooms, but I'm hearing of teachers who turn them off because they're too loud to enable teachers to hear their students. CR boxes are way cheaper, quieter, and more effective, and I can't, for the life of me, get to the bottom of why they're illegal in WRDSB classrooms!!!

3. Consider investing in upper room UV germicidal irradiation systems. It's safe and it's extremely effective at killing viruses. Here's a slideshow explaining it from Harvard Medical School, and the CDC has a guide and here's a study on how it worked to remove TB in hospitals from the Lighting Research Center. And here's a Joey Fox thread on UVGI. He says, "The equivalent clean air delivery rate from far-UV vastly exceeds anything possible with ventilation or filtration." It should be the number one thing, but it will be likely harder to convince people to do. We don't like terms like radiation and sterilization!

4. Share air quality results publicly so everyone can see what works!  

What are we waiting for???