Thread by @j_g_allen

"just about every building you’ve ever walked into is underventilated with low levels of filtration. That’s b/c the standard that governs ventilation rates is a bare minimum not designed for health."

We need Operation Warp Speed for clean *indoor* air
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thehill.com/opinion/energy…

When we think about the full suite of tools we need to combat covid, now and in the future, we’ve had many successes - vaccines, therapeutics, rapid tests. But amid all these achievements, one of the most important and needed has been ignored: good ventilation and filtration.
2/x

How much of a non-focus are ventilation and filtration? We don’t even include an assessment of the building systems in our outbreak investigations, as our Lancet COVID-19 Commission report pointed out should be done every time.
3/x

A school outbreak investigation that didn’t even mention if the windows were open or closed? A hospital outbreak investigation that failed to look at how the mechanical systems were performing? This is malpractice.
4/x

And it’s not like we didn’t know what to do. We’ve known exactly what was needed since day one of the pandemic: enhanced ventilation, better filtration in mechanical systems, in-room portable air cleaners as supplements.

This isn’t rocket science.
5/x

Here are six recommendations for what the government can do today:
6/x

1. Invest in public-private partnerships to spur the market for better ventilation and filtration and new technologies for this space. This worked well when the government did it for vaccines, therapeutics and rapid tests.
7/x

2. Re-up the FRESH AIR for Businesses Act —which was set to provide up to $15,000 for businesses to upgrade their ventilation, filtration and monitoring systems — or create something similar;
8/x

3. Bring building scientists into the core function at the CDC. We have great epidemiologists, virologists, immunologists and medical doctors at the CDC, but where are the engineers?
9/x

Putting them up on the podium next to the CDC director would send a powerful message about how our buildings should be part of the mitigation package;
10/x

4. Elevate the EPA. The Clean Air Act established National Ambient Air Quality Standards that have dramatically cleaned our skies and saved lives. We are overdue to extend this thinking to the indoor environment and have National Indoor Air Quality Standards;
11/x

5. Put real-time air quality sensors in all government buildings and provide open access to the data. The famous business maxim is you can’t manage when you don’t measure. We’ve been flying blind when it comes to indoor air quality, but we don’t have to.
12/x

6. Simplify the message. I see many still confused about what to do. Here's an example: a FIRST step plan:

F-->Find out what your existing systems are doing by hiring a building engineer

I--> Improve the existing systems with commissioning (give your buildings a tune-up)
13/x

R--> Replace or renovate faulty systems.

S--> Supplement with temporary measures like portable air cleaners.

T--> Test the air quality regularly with real-time monitors, to ensure systems are working.
14/x

Improving air quality in buildings not only helps to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 but also helps against other infectious diseases.
15/x

On top of that, better air quality is associated with better scores on reading and math tests and fewer missed school days and workdays.
16/x

The business case for healthy buildings is also strong — good indoor air quality also improves employee cognitive function, which flows directly to the bottom line performance of businesses.
17/x

We’re on the back-end of the omicron surge. But this is not a “mission accomplished” moment. There will be future curveballs that this virus — and other respiratory viruses — throw at us. We need to use this brief reprieve to shore up our defenses.
18/x

Many schools, offices and colleges have taken these simple steps, but so many more have not. Better air also comes with the benefit of being a passive mitigation measure that doesn’t require human behavior change.
19/x

Buildings have been an afterthought, but they have the power to be our first line of defense.

#HealthyBuildings

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thehill.com/opinion/energy…