The plan to stop every respiratory virus at once

‘The benefits of ventilation reach far beyond the coronavirus. What if we stop taking colds and flus for granted, too?

‘The challenge ahead is cost. Piping more outdoor air into a building or adding air filters both require more energy and money to run the HVAC system. (Outdoor air needs to be cooled, heated, humidified, or dehumidified based on the system; adding filters is less energy intensive but it could still require more powerful fans to push the air through.) For decades, engineers have focused on making buildings more energy efficient, and it’s “hard to find a lot of professionals who are really pushing indoor air quality,” Bahnfleth said. He has been helping set COVID-19 ventilation guidelines as chair of the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force. The pushback based on energy usage, he said, was immediate. In addition to energy costs, retrofitting existing buildings might require significant modifications. For example, if you add air filters but your fans aren’t powerful enough, you’re on the hook for replacing the fans too.

‘The question boils down to: How much disease are we willing to tolerate before we act? When London built its sewage system, its cholera outbreaks were killing thousands of people. What finally spurred Parliament to act was the stench coming off the River Thames during the Great Stink of 1858. At the time, Victorians believed that foul air caused disease, and this was an emergency. (They were wrong about exactly how cholera was spreading from the river—it was through contaminated water—but they had ironically stumbled upon the right solution.)’

Read here (The Atlantic, Sept 8, 2021) 

Lancet report says Covid-19 is primarily airborne, safety protocol should change urgently

‘A report published in the journal The Lancet has dismissed the predominant scientific view that SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, is not an airborne pathogen. The authors of the report have listed 10 reasons for their claim that "SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted primarily by the airborne route".

‘The paper, written by six experts from the UK, the US and Canada, argues that there are "insufficient grounds for concluding that a pathogen is not airborne" while "the totality of scientific evidence indicates otherwise". The experts called for urgent modification in the Covid-19 safety protocol.’

Read here (India Today, Apr 16, 2021)

Ten scientific reasons in support of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2

Read here (The Lancet, April 15, 2021)

Covid-19 is transmitted through aerosols. We have enough evidence, now it is time to act

‘We should continue doing what has already been recommended: wash hands, keep six feet apart, and so on. But that is not enough. A new, consistent and logical set of recommendations must emerge to reduce aerosol transmission. I propose the following: Avoid Crowding, Indoors, low Ventilation, Close proximity, long Duration, Unmasked, Talking/singing/Yelling (“A CIViC DUTY”). These are the important factors in mathematical models of aerosol transmission, and can also be simply understood as factors that impact how much “smoke” we would inhale.’

Read here (Time Magazine, August 25, 2020)

Airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2: Theoretical considerations and available evidence

‘All told, current understanding about SARS-CoV-2 transmission is still limited. There are no perfect experimental data proving or disproving droplet vs aerosol-based transmission of SARS-CoV-2. The balance of evidence, however, seems inconsistent with aerosol-based transmission of SARS-CoV-2 particularly in well-ventilated spaces. What this means in practice is that keeping 6-feet apart from other people and wearing medical masks, high-quality cloth masks, or face shields when it is not possible to be 6-feet apart (for both source control and respiratory protection) should be adequate to minimize the spread of SARS-CoV-2 (in addition to frequent hand hygiene, environmental cleaning, and optimizing indoor ventilation).’

Read here (JAMA Network, July 13, 2020)

239 experts with 1 big claim: The coronavirus is airborne

‘The World Health Organization has long held that the coronavirus is spread primarily by large respiratory droplets that, once expelled by infected people in coughs and sneezes, fall quickly to the floor. But in an open letter to the WHO, 239 scientists in 32 countries have outlined the evidence showing that smaller particles can infect people, and are calling for the agency to revise its recommendations. The researchers plan to publish their letter in a scientific journal next week.’

Read here (New York Times, July 4, 2020)

Coronavirus found in air samples up to 4 metres from patients: China study

’A new study examining air samples from hospital wards with COVID-19 patients has found the virus can travel up to 4m – twice the distance current guidelines say people should leave between themselves in public. The preliminary results of the investigation by Chinese researchers were published on Friday in Emerging Infectious Diseases, a journal of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).‘

Read here (Channel News Asia, April 11, 2020)