
The look of the air in a poorly ventilated space/Wikimedia Commons
More than two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control has finally decided it might be time to do something about building ventilation.
Now retired Anchorage plumber Jeff Cooper could have told them this long ago. Back in April of 2020, he observed how in the wake of the Spanish flu building codes in New York City were changed to require that windows could be opened for ventilation in apartment buildings.
It was known during that pandemic of 1918-19 that flu was a respiratory disease caused by viruses in the air, and given that almost everything in medicine is dose-related, one of the ways to reduce the dose and help protect people was to ventilate enclosed spaces.
Infectious disease experts from the CDC this week echoed that thinking in a “viewpoint” article for JAMA, formerly the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“Infection also can occur through long-range transmission from inhalation of infectious respiratory particles that remain suspended in air for longer periods (potentially after the infectious person is no longer present) and across longer distances (greater than a few meters).”
For too long this has been ignored. Over time what was learned about ventilation during the Spanish flu largely faded away, and by the 21`st Century, there was more concern about sealing buildings up for energy efficiency than ventilating them to prevent disease.
The federal government actually created a Weatherization Assistance Program to help low-income Americans seal up their homes despite some warnings this might not be a good idea.
“Buildings that are being weatherized and made energy-efficient and air tight can be hazardous to one’s health,” researchers at Harvard University warned in 201`1. But no one paid much attention.
Led by the state of California, the country started moving toward ever tighter commercial buildings. California in 2015 stipulated that “buildings with operable windows will be required to have controls that shut off heating and cooling systems when a window is open for more than five minutes” to encourage occupants to shut those doors and windows when it is cold outside and the heating system is running or hot outside when the air-conditioning is on.
This was part of a plan to achieve “zero net energy” and businesses to help reduce the volume of human-caused carbon dioxide escaping into the atmosphere, which is believed to be what is driving global warming.
This was just the sort of action against which the Harvard researchers had warned.
“Experience suggests that some of the effects could be negative. An upfront investment to consider the consequences of these actions before they play out and to avoid problems where they can be anticipated will yield benefits in health and in averted costs of medical care, remediation, and lost productivity.”
Then along came the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19.
Driven by art
And along with it, some very fancy, high-tech photography that illustrated the droplets of moisture that fly out of the mouths of people when they breathe, talk or sing.
The sole author of the paper, Lydia Bourouiba at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, went on to declare a “new model for respiratory emissions,” although did concede a “2020 report from China demonstrated that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus particles could be found in the ventilation systems in hospital rooms of patients with COVID-19.
“(And) finding virus particles in these systems is more consistent with the turbulent gas cloud hypothesis of disease transmission than the dichotomous model because it explains how viable virus particles can travel long distances from patients. Whether these data have clinical implications with respect to COVID-19 is unknown.”
What was unknown didn’t matter as the nation’s health experts clamped onto the idea that if the country made everyone put on masks to block droplets the pandemic could be brought to an end.
There were those who voiced warnings of the dangers of smaller viral particles, what were called “aerosols,” that could remain suspended in the air for a considerable period of time and accumulate in enclosed spaces with poor ventilation, but they were largely shouted down by the droplet crowd.
“…The outbreak cannot be explained by droplet transmission alone,” they wrote, “because the distances between the index patient and patrons at the other tables are all
greater than one meter they wrote. We estimate that such distances may have been as far as 4.6 m (13.8 feet).
They concluded that the building’s air conditioning likely created “a contaminated recirculation envelope” which left people far from the infected individual breathing in the virus he was shedding for an hour or more.
That none of the waiters were infected, they added, was likely due to the short amount of time they spent in the recirculation envelope. They also pointed out the air-conditioning wasn’t the only problem in the restaurant.
“The exhaust fans in the walls were found to be turned off and sealed during the January 24 lunch, meaning that there was no outdoor air supply aside from infiltration and infrequent and brief opening of the fire door due to the negative pressure generated by the exhaust fan in the restroom,” the wrote.
In short, the restaurant’s patrons were in sitting in what Americans once knew as a smoke-filled restaurant or bar breathing an invisible, scentless health danger. When secondhand smoke in American bars and restaurants was found to have health consequences, the risk it posed to others was negated by kicking smokers out of the building and onto the curb where there was plenty of natural ventilation.
Kicked to the curb
And with that problem solved, nothing more was done to fix the air in eating and drinking establishments or other poorly ventilated indoor spaces.
Or when infection rates in the country’s southern states mushroomed when it got hot and people retreated into tightly sealed, air-conditioned buildings.
But the U.S government still dragged its feet on fixing the ventilation problem. That appears to be finally changing.
“Community masking and physical distancing, both of which can reduce the likelihood of encountering and inhaling virus-containing particles, have received substantial attention,” the CDC scientists wrote. “However, there is less public awareness about existing indoor air recommendations that can directly reduce the number of virus-containing particles in indoor air and thereby reduce the risk of inhaling these particles from shared air.”
This might be the understatement of the pandemic in this country.
“Much remains to be learned about benefits of specific interventions and combinations under different circumstances,” they conceded. “However, observational studies and modeling suggest substantial effectiveness for these strategies used alone, combined, and with other approaches.
“For example, in a 2020 study that included 169 Georgia elementary schools, COVID-19 incidence was 39 percent lower in 87 schools that improved ventilation compared with 37 schools that did not…and 48 percent lower in 31 schools that improved ventilation through dilution combined with filtration.”
They now argue that “like fluoridation of drinking water to prevent tooth decay and road and vehicle design improvements to increase road safety, structural interventions that reduce the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 particles in the air can protect more people with less individual effort. Such strategies are increasingly valuable as society learns to coexist with COVID-19 and people return to sharing indoor spaces.”
Thankfully, the federal government now has a lot of money to throw at this problem.
“Through the American Rescue Plan, Congress has appropriated nearly a half trillion dollars ($350 billion to state, local, and tribal governments and $122 billion to schools), roughly half of which remains available to support indoor air quality improvements in small businesses, industrial settings, commercial buildings, low-income housing, transportation hubs, and schools,” the CDC reported.
And cleaning up indoor air isn’t just about Covid-19.
“Improving air quality has the potential to reduce not only infections with SARS-CoV-2 but also infections with other respiratory viruses and bacteria, reactive airway disease (such as asthma) triggered by antigens, pulmonary and cardiovascular injury from inhalation of harmful respiratory particulates (such as wildfire (smoke and) smog), and toxicity from inhalation of volatile organic compounds,” the researchers wrote. “A once-in-decades opportunity now exists to make sustained improvements to public and private indoor air quality, reduce COVID-19 risk, and improve school, workplace, and consumer health and safety.”
The CDC might be a little late to the party, but at least it appears to have finally arrived.
Categories: Commentary, News
Ventilation benefits can occur without opening a window. Our system was proven by a Biosafety Level 3 laboratory to reduce aerosolized SARS COV 2 by 96% every 90 minutes at a concentration under OSHA guidelines. Future variants will most likely show the same results as there are no viral defenses against oxidation.
It is unfortunate that the entity with the highest volume of interior space most critical to the community has refused repeatedly to address ventilation and filtration in its facilities. Yes, I am talking about the Anchorage School District and about the Board’s refusal to make pertinent data available to the public over the past two years despite repeated demands.
Marc, honestly, filtration in schools for Covid is a waste of money. Lots of money. First off Covid doesn’t really affect kids. My kids all got it and they barely missed a beat. Now they have antibodies for life and require zero “vaccines”. Secondly, it is unhealthy for kids to live and dwell in a sterile environment. In other words they need germs and viruses to get sick to strengthen their immune systems. Best thing for kids would be to get Covid.
Thirdly, the CDC has lied about “600 kids dying from Covid”. It is an inaccurate number. Yes, 600 kids died WITH Covid. The usual lies.
Since Covid was lab generated and intentionally released it served its purpose – the elderly and those with weakened immune systems died. Omicron, totally different virus.
Right now they are just warming up. When they get ready for hardball, all the filtration systems in the world aren’t going to save your arse.
Dear Bryan,
Yes, it really does effect kids, and it also spreads through kids to adults, as well as threatens the adults who work there.
The CDC has not “lied”, nor is there evidence of the CDC “lying” about Covid and I suggest that you spend a bit more time with a dictionary and the literature.
As far as kids needing germs, are you suggesting that they should all catch diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus, not to mention measles, small pox, and polio? I lived through the polio epidemic and all I can say is that if you want your children to be exposed to polio you might want to re-examine your priorities.
By the way, we know you are really an alien from Planet IX.
Fascinating. A century after Spanish Flu, the feds once again figure out ventilation is important. Who knew?
OTOH, not a single word on the use of UVC to sterilize airflow. It’s not all that expensive, can be put in the HVAC system to sterilize the airflow or in high ceilings with a ceiling fan blowing air through the light to do the same thing.
The really frustrating thing about all of this is that ignoring UVC (which is used in hospitals, aviation, even barber shops to sterilize surfaces and tools) echoes what they did with therapeutics. Rather than an all hands on deck approach (diet, obesity, therapeutics, dietary supplements, vax), they quickly settled on a one size fits all approach (vax, masking, lockdowns).
Time to go Carthage on them. Level the entire department. Salt the earth so nothing can grow there afterwards. Cheers –
Thank you for reporting in an objective fashion.
I wonder how much the HRV systems in newer buildings help .
I live in a log cabin. My utility bill indicates I have good circulation.
There’s a reason the saying “the solution to pollution is dilution” came about.
If anything the last 2 years have shown us is what corrupt frauds and liars are at the CDC, NIH, FDA, FBI, Congress, SCOTUS, etc.. We are a “Banana Republic” financed by China, big tech, pharma, and the Military Industrial Complex.. Total corruption. Take the CDC this past week, “wear a mask to prevent Monkey Pox”. When pointed out Monkey Pox, like AIDS, is a gay disease they quietly delete the entry from their fraudulent website. Anybody who listens to those frauds and keeps pumping unknown toxins into their bodies, when clearly there is a link to large numbers of recent deaths in healthy people, deserves what they get.
I do take accepting to some of your mask reporting though.
“”Positive correlation between mask usage and cases was not statistically significant,” the study also found, “while the correlation between mask usage and deaths was positive and significant (rho = 0.351, p = 0.039).” That is to say, more mask usage correlated with a higher death rate.”
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/326734
I mean, somebody is lying…
“Those who had a natural infection cleared the virus within that first week or two — their body had the ability to clear it,” Cole said.
“But when you put the synthetic sequence in, the body is not clearing it,” he explained. “It’s persistently making spike protein. And that sequence is persisting, and then it’s damaging the organs chronically over time, it’s damaging the immune cells chronically over time, it’s causing clots … chronically over time.”
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/coronavirus/covid-vaccines-appear-cause-abnormally-huge-blood-clots