25% * 50% of cases remaining = 12.5% total remaining = 87.5 % reduction.
These methods work better together - better air circulation makes upper room UVGI more effective. CR Box addition mixes air even more and removes all PM2.5, not just virus laden aerosols.
4/5
87.5% reduction in COVID transmission from ventilation, filtration and upper room UVGI?!
Am I too optimistic?
Too much faith in engineering measures?
Fine. Run some RCTs and prove me wrong.
5/5
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I'm amazed that this concept exists. It's as if some doctors have pledged eternal loyalty to the vaccine and any additional measures are a form of adultery. It's absurd. Stop encroaching on engineering.
1/9
An engineer's perspective:
a. Especially with boost, vaccines are extremely effective against severe disease.
b. They are not effective long-term in preventing infection.
Because of this, many have said that only severe disease matters. It's not true. Here's why:
2/9
1. We've tried using a vaccine only approach. It's failed in every country that attempted it. 2. What about the immunocompromised, elderly and unvaccinated? 3. A vaccine only approach causes people to blame the pandemic on the unvaccinated. This can't continue.
3/9
A UV light is placed in the duct or by the coil of an air handling unit. It will kill virus particles being supplied to the zone.
I'm not in favor:
a. It can damage the filters
b. Better alternatives are: increasing outdoor air % and improving filtration.
2/20
c. Transmission through ducts is long range transmission. Shared room transmission is much higher risk. Better to focus on higher risk.
d. People in the industry have expressed skepticism to me of how
effective this actually is.
e. UV is more expensive than filtration.
If all the money that was spent on cloth masks, face shields, gloves and gowns would have been spent on N95s, everyone would have been protected.
If all the money that was spent on hand sanitizer would have been spent on CO2 monitors, people could keep themselves safe.
1/7
If all the money that was spent on deep cleanings would have been spent on HEPA filters, there would have been less transmission.
If all the money that was spent on plexiglass would have been spent on UVGI, those classrooms would have been safe.
2/7
If all the time spent on teaching people to wash their hands would have been spent on teaching people about airborne mitigation, people would know how to protect themselves.
If some of the media time given to PH and ID docs...
How I'm rating the HEPA filters purchased by Canadian schools 🧵
I will tweet a thread soon comparing some HEPA filters purchased by Canadian schools. Before, I want to explain my rating system here.
1/8
Getting the info about the HEPA filters was very difficult - it isn't available. The proper info provided for each one should be the CADR (clean air delivery rate) and noise at each speed, but you can't find that, so I had to estimate based on the available information.
2/8
Many companies provide misleading info. For example, they state the CFM of the fan without the filter instead of the CADR. They state the noise at >6 ft away rather than the standard of 1 m. You have to sort through the nonsense to find the necessary info.
3/8
We stopped COVID in our home! My wife felt sick early last week and then tested positive (RAT). Everyone in our family is now negative. My kids and I never got it. We didn't resort to extreme measures like isolation or kids wearing N95s all day. This is how we did it:
1/11
We followed public health advice:
-wore comfortable cloth masks
-washed our hands frequently
-cleaned and disinfected - especially the toys
-practiced safe physical distancing
-put up plexiglass barriers as an extra precaution.
Just kidding. That's not how it's done.
2/11
#COVIDisAirborne . Focus on keeping the air clean and you can stop the spread. These are the measures we took:
Vaccines - we're all fully vaccinated (including boosters) except my 3 yo. My 4 month old had 2 doses in utero. My 6 yo has 2 doses.
What are good CO2 levels and what can you do if they aren't good?
When people breathe out they expel CO2. Depending on the level of ventilation, this can be exhausted and the CO2 levels will stay low (good ventilation) or if it isn't good, the CO2 will build up and rise.
There is no hard cutoff with the different levels, but here is a guide.
<800 ppm is quoted a lot, but in my experience, classrooms can be much higher. Up to 1500 ppm can occur with ventilation not working perfectly (very common). > 2000 happens with bad ventilation.
2/7
CO2 levels measure how much air is shared or rebreathed. @DavidElfstrom prepared a table comparing CO2 levels to the % of rebreathed air. The more rebreathed air, the higher the risk of airborne transmission.