🧵 #Covid19 Lots of questions about #schools, so…

#1 VENTILATION is very important, we need oxygen to function. Even before Covid, stuffy classrooms meant sleepy children, poor learning & more illness. DO NOT seal up rooms

#2 FILTRATION is another layer of protection & ...
.. & may mean that a higher reading on a CO2 monitor is ok

CO2 monitors measure ventilation, not filtration

When a room has filtration it may still have stale stuffy air ..but it’s stale stuffy air that’s had virus removed by a filter (as happens on aircraft)

Here’s a guide:
#3 but WHICH filtration? There are different approaches, both valid:

*crisis action, act fast, take what’s available, quick impact
OR
*long term investment, take care, get it right, more impact (but not yet)

Personally, I favour immediate impact because health trumps money
#4 AIR CLEANING

What’s recommended most is basic low-tech, cheap-as-chips, can’t-go-wrong filtration. That’s a fan (to pull air) + a filter (to catch particles)

AVOID ionisers, ozone, ‘electronics’ & ‘plasma’ that may not be effective & could cause harm
#5 HOW MUCH filtration/ventilation?

Currently >1 in 50 primary school children had a + PCR in last 2 weeks, so almost every class has an infectious child (statistically)
In these conditions we need EVERYTHING
😷 masks
🪟 ventilation
♻️filtration
👨‍🏫 management
🧠 common sense
#6 BLINDSPOTS

Outside the class, the high-risk pinch points need very careful attention

⛹🏽‍♀️🗣🎺PE, singing & wind instruments are high risk, move outside

* lunch (masks off) should be outside, or well spaced (use halls & corridors), or not face-to-face & silent (show a video)
#7 TRANSPORT to/from school may be he highest risk of day

🚘 crack open windows on 2 sides, switch car fan to fresh air (not recirculation) & wear masks

🚌 open windows or roof vent where available, run fans on full fresh air, wear masks & spread out
#8 TOILETS, locker rooms, store rooms, corridors, lifts & break-rooms

Covid can linger in the air for hours in EMPTY rooms in certain conditions

Ventilate these spaces well.. & wear a mask everywhere indoors in the current very high-risk conditions
School safety videos here: gospeakupamerica.com/deltaschools

Filtration advice, tools & mask info here: cleanaircrew.org

FAQs here: docs.google.com/document/u/2/d…

HEPA thread here:

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More from @Orla_Hegarty

18 Dec
Pubs, restaurants & #Covid19: How the virus spreads inside (pre Omicron) 1/ thetimes.co.uk/article/ventil… Image
2/ Image
3/ Image
Read 7 tweets
7 Dec
Public health #architecture
Ventilation required for ‘certain classes of inmates’:

Soldiers & healthy paupers: 600 cubic feet (17m3 ≈ 7m2 floor area)

Lying-in women (maternity) & the ‘offensively’ sick: 1,200 cubic feet (34m3 ≈ 14m2 floor area)

(source: Healthy Houses, 1876)
& it gets better

..the book was written by William Eassie, “late assistant engineer to Renkioi Hospital during the Crimean War”
Renkioi Hospital (1855) was a prefabricated hospital, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel with “the necessities of hygiene: sanitation, ventilation, drainage & temperature controls.. integrated in 1,000-patient hospital layout, using 60 of the unit wards” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renkioi_H…
Read 6 tweets
5 Dec
😷 Can you turn your surgical mask into a well-fitting mask? YES with a « mask brace » & free template to make one (see elastic band hack in next tweet)
😷 Mask hack for a good fit using elastic bands
& another mask fit tip from Dr @SandhyaRamanat1
Read 5 tweets
13 Nov
In Ireland half of the people who died from #Covid19 were infected in fewer than 400 buildings

Ireland has >2,500,000 buildings

Risk is about buildings, not behaviour

Spread is about clusters, not contacts

Control is about eliminating the hot spots (pic: @mdc_martinus )
this blew up, so a🧵of info

#1 almost all #COVID19 transmission is due to infected air trapped indoors/in vehicles

#2 the air conditions are known, measurable & preventable

#3 managing the air & the people can make ALL buildings low risk

CLEAN AIR can (& has) stopped pandemic
Read 12 tweets
11 Nov
😷 Good masking policies protect HCWs, hospital staff, patients & visitors

😷 FFP (respirator) masks protect from inhaling airborne virus

😷 2m distancing is ~not~ a protection from airborne virus spread

😷 Infected air can linger in empty rooms, lifts, toilets & break rooms
why does using FFP (respirator) masks really matter?

“surgical masks do not protect the wearer from inhaling smaller airborne particles”

most #Covid19 transmission is from these smaller particles that are light enough to float, & linger for hours indoors

@NIOSH /@CDCgov Image
Everything you ever wanted to know about masks (HT Prof @trishgreenhalgh )
Read 4 tweets
31 Oct
#Covid19 is not harmful to children”-says @CcoHse on @RTERadio1

100 children have died in UK

NHS England are opening 15 ~paediatric~ #LongCovid clinics

International research confirms schools without precautions drive spread

CDC warn of severe disease risk in young children
1 in 4 schools (in Ireland) had a #Covid19 outbreak between Feb & May this year (HPSC)

Schools in Ireland are not following public health advice of ECDC, WHO & CDC

Just this week one school had an outbreak of 40+ cases independent.ie/irish-news/hea…
NPHET aren’t following the advice of their own Expert Group on Ventilation gov.ie/en/publication…

.. & giving contradictory (unevidenced) advice about risk to children

With #Delta one child can infect 5-8 others..it’s an airborne virus that is as transmissible as chickenpox
Read 4 tweets

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