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Joseph Allen Profile picture
Joseph Allen
@j_g_allen
Assoc Prof @HarvardChanSPH; Lancet @CommissionCOVID (Chair Task Force on Safe Work/School/Travel); Coauthor of HEALTHY BUILDINGS @Harvard_Press; WaPo, NYT, HBR
Perpetual Mind Profile picture mike norrie Profile picture Aviva Gabriel Profile picture Jerry Stock Profile picture José Alberto Profile picture 14 subscribed
Apr 7 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
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) Image
Jan 27 • 28 tweets • 9 min read
"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…
Image
May 12, 2023 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
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.
Mar 26, 2023 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
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.
🧵 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
Mar 20, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
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
Mar 9, 2023 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
1/ "It is imperative that orgs like ASHRAE, CDC, WHO, NIOSH create, adopt, and disseminate health-based standards for ventilation.

These orgs cannot continue to tell people to “bring in more air” without answering the critical question: “How much?”
harvardpublichealth.org/environmental-… 2/ Is there an answer to "how much"? Yes! Check out latest article by @dyanilewis. She cites the work of our Lancet @Commissioncovid Task Force that published ventilation targets and other groups.

nature.com/articles/d4158…
Mar 3, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
1/ Measles spreads through the air. I’m going to take a professional gamble here and, **prior to reading the article** (I swear), am betting that there’s no info on ventilation. Not measured; not discussed. washingtonpost.com/health/2023/03… 2/
Vaccine: ✅ (most important)
Ventilation: ❌

(So close, too, because the article has this: “Measles is a respiratory virus that is spread through the air. “)

Has anyone looked into ventilation here??
Mar 1, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
The First Four Healthy Building Strategies Every Building Should Pursue, from The Lancet Covid-19 Commission Task Force on Safe Work, Safe School, and Safe Travel 🧵 1/ Commission or Recommission Building Systems
Feb 26, 2023 • 18 tweets • 3 min read
1/ When our Lancet Covid-19 Commission Report came out, it got a lot of positive reviews, with the one exception being the "The Origins of SARS-CoV-2" section, which came under attack. We had it right. Look at the balanced presentation here:
thelancet.com/commissions/co… 2/ "The proximal origins of SARS-CoV-2 are still not known. Identifying these origins would provide greater clarity into not only the causes of the current pandemic but also vulnerabilities to future outbreaks and strategies to prevent them.
Feb 20, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
1/ This is *really* smart.

“Ms. Guglielmo, 67, was not satisfied. Instead, she paid $900 for an independent contractor to analyze the air in the store, Wristbands America, and was planning to pay to test her inventory of silicone bands.”

nytimes.com/2023/02/19/us/… 2/ Silicone wristbands act as passive chemical samplers (chemicals in the air absorb into them). We use them in our research. 👇

hsph.harvard.edu/healthybuildin…
Feb 17, 2023 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Everywhere I go these days I see portable air cleaners turned off and/or shoved in the corner. We need to address the noise issue. ANSI standard for background noise in unoccupied classroom is 35 dB(A), but many (most) devices are 55+. The CADR of a device that's off is...0 2/ The ANSI standard also says diff between teacher and student shouldn't exceed 15 dB(A). If device is on in back of room humming at 55 dB(A), a teacher will have to be speaking at >70 dB(A)* or student will have trouble hearing/comprehending speech.
Feb 16, 2023 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
1/ I disagree with this assessment. Here's why:

I previously mentioned a train derailment 10 years ago in NJ with a similar release of vinyl chloride... 2/ Important caveat that I make at end of thread - these are different situations, but the health evaluation done in NJ is informative...
Feb 15, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
1/ EPA released a statement about the air quality monitoring in East Palestine after the train derailment. A thread with their statements, and some questions I have... Image So, it looks like they were on-site quickly with real-time air quality instruments. But...

Q1: Has anyone seen the data?
Q2: Notice the gap in info? Feb3: on-site taking measurements, Feb 8: "not detected". Does this imply levels *were* above health concern Feb3-Feb8? Image
Feb 14, 2023 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
1/ REPORTERS: I spoke to a few reporters looking into the Ohio train derailment. Informative to look at this prior derailment in NJ (Nov 12, 2012). NJ DPH completed a Health Consultation related to the release of vinyl chloride. Some interesting findings in thread. 2/ High proportion of Paulsboro, NJ residents experienced symptoms consistent with exposure to vinyl chloride released from the train derailment site.
Feb 8, 2023 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
1/ I know #SoTU as so 12-hours ago, but did you know there's a buildings connection? (there always is...)

Short excerpt from my book, #HealthyBuildings

"We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us." -Winston Churchill Image 2/ "THE WORLD IS CHANGING around us, and buildings are at the center of that change. So much so that the decisions we make today regarding our buildings will determine our collective health for generations to come. Winston Churchill’s famous quote has never been more apt.
Feb 1, 2023 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
1/ ASHRAE just dropped new ventilation targets for schools. Aligns.

ASHRAE (2023)
—> 3-6 ACH

Me+Shelly Miller (2020)
—> 4-6 ACH (good, excellent, ideal)

Me+Ibrahim (2021)
—> 4-6 ACH

Lancet Covid-19 Commission (2022)
—> 4-6+ ACH (good, better, best)
ashrae.org/file%20library… 2/ Note that is *NOT* the ASHRAE group announced in December that they would release new ventilation targets in 6 months. So…the groups are not talking? Was this inadvertently dropped? Not sure this group knows what a big deal this is by slipping in 3-6ACH. Or maybe they do?
Jan 30, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
1/ “A global outbreak was thus seeded from a single person on a single day on a single floor of a Hong Kong hotel.”

The 2003 SARS epidemic exploded when an infected healthcare worker, suffering from minor respiratory symptoms, went to Hong Kong for a friend’s wedding... 2/ ...and checked into a ninth-floor room in the Metropole Hotel. He fell severely ill the next day, went to a hospital and died shortly thereafter — but not before transmitting Sars to 16 other guests with rooms on the same floor.
Jan 25, 2023 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
For anyone who thought of, and pushed, the JUUL and smoking cessation narrative, rather than as vehicle for addicting more (young) users...quite a partnership brewing...

(more e-cig links in this thread)
wsj.com/articles/juul-… Lots of evidence that kids who used e-cigs went on to use cigarettes. (Yes, a gateway...)
Jan 25, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Absolutely critical and not discussed enough. The failure of ASHRAE - *the* standard setting body for ventilation - to set a ventilation target during the pandemic for a respiratory virus that spreads entirely indoors in under ventilated spaces. For those who do not know, ASHRAE did have a group working on this. Excellent scientists. They produced a ventilation target last year. Never saw the light of day. Why?
Jan 25, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
First class today and I brought up new #chatGPT policy. Sharing in case others find helpful.

Background: for one assignment students create a two-page summary for the public on a #HealthyBuildings topic.
🧵 2/ Answer basic questions: what is it? Why it matters for health? What are solutions. Topics can be anything (asbestos, VOCs, nano materials, green cleaners, SARS-CoV-2…)
Jan 23, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Can you spot the problem?

--> SARS- CoV-2 and other respiratory pathogens transmit through inhalation exposure indoors, mostly in places with inadequate ventilation and filtration

--> Current building standards promote bare-minimum ventilation and filtration targets That's why our @Lancet @Commissioncovid Task Force on Safe Work/School/Travel wrote this report, which proposes better ventilation and filtration targets