SCHOOLS: I'm presenting today for a State DPH on steps schools can take on ventilation. Re-sharing some things I hope people find helpful (all available since summer 2020)
Simple #HealthyBuilding strategies: more ventilation, better filtration, portable air cleaners, VERIFY
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But, as I've been saying since March 2020, you can't just say 'more outdoor air' without giving a specific target. My recs is 4-6 ACH.
How can I determine if my classroom is meeting these targets? We have a simple 5-step guide for how to do this.
If you're using CO2 to determine ventilation, the 'how to' is covered in the 5-step guide. You can also use our cool little tool to help set a target CO2 level based on your ACH target. (works for offices and any other place, too! link to tool: forhealth.org/tools/co2-calc…
If you're using portable air cleaners, but not sure how to size them for the room, we have a tool for that, too. (rule of thumb: look for CADR of 300 for every 500 square feet)
The multiple benefits beyond covid and infectious disease are well-documented for every age group, and go well-beyond air quality (blow up the pic and read that table (!)
On H5N1, milk and this NEJM letter
There are some really important points being missed. It's worth reading the whole letter, including the supplemental info (the authors do a good job of explaining everything); it's not very long... 1/n nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
Relevant background
There are two main commercial pasteurization approaches: 63C/30min or 72C/15 sec
Things I find important/interesting in NEJM article:
The authors find that the 63C process works and "has a large safety buffer."
The Lancet Commission on Lessons for the Future from the Pandemic
The multiple failures of intn'l cooperation include 1. lack of timely notification of initial outbreak 2. costly delays in acknowledging the crucial airborne exposure pathway of SARS-CoV-2 thelancet.com/journals/lance…
Do you know how we got this "costly delays in acknowledging the crucial airborne exposure pathway of SARS-CoV-2" into the manuscript? Steady work by this incredible Lancet Task Force (you'll recognize the crew)
And did you know we also got this into the *first* report by The Lancet Covid-19 Commission, published Sept 2020, when airborne denial was still rampant?
"Mitigating airborne transmission is especially crucial"
"Proper conditions indoors have the potential to reduce the spread of COVID-19; conversely, improper conditions, such as limited ventilation and filtration, can make indoor environments high-risk settings" thelancet.com/journals/lance…
"Popcorn Lung" was coined when workers at a microwave popcorn packaging facility developed the disease after inhaling diacetyl, one of the chemicals used to create fake butter flavor. Diacetyl, and its many chemical cousins, create candy flavors, too. Fine to ingest; dangerous to inhale.
These same chemicals are often found in e-cigs/vapes.
I wrote about "Popcorn Lung" and the flavoring chemicals used in e-cigs/vapes a few years ago: nytimes.com/2018/04/04/opi…
There's more to the e-cig/vape story than the flavoring chemicals and diacetyl even. Check out this thread on a related chemical, methylglyoxal, that can be formed through the heating process in e-cigs/vapes. (I can't understand why this hasn't gotten more attention...)
Historic day. For 40 years we've been saddled with bare minimum ventilation standards that were not designed for health. Today, CDC released the 1st ever federal guidance on higher ventilation standards, and ASHRAE also released a doc for public comment🧵 cdc.gov/coronavirus/20…
CDC specifies 5 ACHe.🙌 This is exactly in-line with the recommendations from our Lancet Covid-19 Commission. It's smart. It's evidence-based. It's understandable. It's actionable. It's achievable. It will keep people healthier.
CDC also makes excellent recommendations with regard to focusing on building system performance (commissioning), and recommending MERV-13 filters as new min. These are also in-line with The Lancet recs and best practice
Current ventilation rates are not designed for Covid-19 (or any other respiratory pathogen)
That's why our Lancet Covid-19 Commission Task Force on Safe Work/School/Travel published this report.
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Task Force had widespread agreement on:
1) current targets too low 2) getting bldgs off current minimums would lead to big gains 3) coalescence around target values, across experts and metrics 4) we want to propose something that moves this convo forward 5) there is urgency
We *intentionally* provided recs across three metrics (all have pros/cons; convo was *stuck* here) and with good/better/best (creating new minimums *and* a north star both important)
Higher ventilation rates in schools associated with better math test scores.
This study, and many more, in the Harvard Healthy Buildings program report, "Schools for Health": schools.forhealth.org
5% decrement in "power of attention" in poorly ventilated classrooms...researchers equate this roughly to how a student might feel from skipping breakfast. schools.forhealth.org
Former US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos did an interview with 60 Minutes in 2018 in which she said something that should make anyone reading this book fall off his or her chair: “We should be funding and
investing in students, not in school buildings." (!)