Today @NYCMayor de Blasio told @BrianLehrer that @WNYC/@Gothamist's recent series on ventilation in @NYCSchools is inaccurate
He should read our latest:
NYC Officials Say School Windows Can Always Offer Solid Ventilation. Independent Scientists Disagree
gothamist.com/news/nyc-offic…
And as a fun exercise in science media literacy, let's break down the Mayor's response...
Two weeks ago, Brian Lehrer asked @NYCMayor/@BilldeBlasio whether he had heard that the air purifiers @NYCSchools had purchased for every classroom in the city lacked HEPA filters, an industry standard.
The mayor said he'd look into it.
wnyc.org/story/ask-mayo…
Brian followed up today, and @NYCMayor made a few questionable claims.
First, he said @NYCSchools' Intellipure air filters "are actually regarded as more rigorous than HEPA." (gothamist.com/news/ask-the-m…)
Not only did our independent experts disagree... gothamist.com/news/nyc-offic…
...including this pointed statement on HEPA filters from @HuffmanLabDU...
gothamist.com/news/nyc-offic…
And as we cite, a ***CDC ventilation expert*** told the high school paper @thhsclassic that:
A) Non-HEPA filters should NOT be described as to considered to be HEPA filters.
B) HEPA filters improve over time, which isn't always the case for knockoffs. thhsclassic.com/2021/08/31/the…
.@NYCSchools and the Mayor's health advisers are fully aware of these evidence- and expert-based counterpoints to his first point, as we have informed them multiple times.
Second, @NYCMayor claimed he has evidence that
@NYCSchools' Intellipure purifiers in combination windows-alone could offer enough ventilation
A) His senior health adviser/consultant told us DOE hasn't provided him with ventilation data from classrooms... gothamist.com/news/nyc-offic…
B) His senior health adviser and our independent experts agree that air purifiers don't contribute to ventilation (i.e., replace tainted air with fresh air), despite the mayor's assertion.
gothamist.com/news/nyc-offic…
C) Our indep. experts have said windows alone cannot provide suitable ventilation for all rooms at all times, due to weather conditions/the size of the rooms.
One has even conducted a study of Northeast schools (outside of NYC) showing just that...
gothamist.com/news/nyc-offic…
D) @NYCMayor says he has evidence that Intellipure purifiers and windows-only rooms can prevent SARS2 infections from the last school year
I'd love to see it. What I do know is that last year, @NYCSchools weren't at full capacity and we weren't dealing with the delta variant...
...I do know that John Shea, head of the Division of School Facilities at @NYCSchools, says they won't publicly release ventilation (airflow/CO2 measurements) for individual classrooms. gothamist.com/news/nyc-offic…
...I do know that @NYCMayor's health adviser keeps claiming that there's no solid evidence that HEPA filters can prevent infectious disease, when there is and when I've shared these studies with them.
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ac…
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
nature.com/articles/17012…
...and I know, as of early this week, there are 4,000 NYC classrooms that have been cleared for in-person occupancy despite only having windows and non-HEPA air purifiers
gothamist.com/news/nyc-appro…
Finally, what @NYCMayor may NOT know about me is that I'm tenacious, and I bring receipts.
P.S. I do know that I'm waiting for the mayor or any of his surrogates to actually show proof to back their claims about our reporting: gothamist.com/tags/nyc-schoo…
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