Prof. Harvard University on ventilation for healthy buildings for 60 minutes'.

How air systems can contain the spread of viruses

Joe Allen thinks a lot about air.

Specifically about the air we breathe indoors. For the Harvard professor, founder of the university's Healthy Buildings Program, our buildings and public health authorities have ignored indoor air exchange systems for far too long - until the COVID-19 pandemic.

But by then it was too late. Lack of attention to the issue led to tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases, Allen believes. He believes that rethinking building design is key to preventing the spread of COVID-19 and other potentially deadly respiratory infections in''future.

"Think of the public health advances we've made in the last hundred years.

We've improved water quality, street air pollution control, food safety; we've made improvements in sanitation - the foundation of public health," he said. - "Where was the inside air in this conversation? It was completely forgotten. And the pandemic showed how gross a mistake that was. "

By March 2020, COVID-19 had begun to spread in the United States. This month, the Skagit Valley Chorale gathered for a rehearsal at a Washington State church. Half of the choir members showed up for the rehearsal, including board members Debbie Amos and Coisy Bettinger.

"We just thought it was enough to use hand sanitizer, a lot of times'''wash your hands, don't hug, because that's contact,' Bettinger said." But none of that helped. Choir members got sick within days. In all, COVID-19 infected 53 of the 61 people in the church that night. Of those, two, both in their 80s, died.

S Skagit County law enforcement concluded that choir members had "intense and prolonged exposure" to surfaces and possibly aerosols containing the virus.

This conclusion caught the attention of Virginia Tech professor Lynsey Marr, who specializes in the study of aerosols. Even though the medical community has focused on droplets, surfaces and hand washing, Marr and other researchers strongly believed that COVID-19 is primarily transmitted by''air.

Marr used a portable nebulizer to explain how so many choir members could have gotten sick.

"When they sing, they are constantly releasing viral particles into the air," she said. The choir was in the church for more than two hours, and throughout that time, viral particles were carried around, infecting other people.

"You can imagine that after that amount of time, other people inhaled enough particles to get sick," Marr said.

Analysis''This putative superbug event became one of the most significant papers on the importance of ventilation published during the pandemic. Then last year a study in Italy went even further. It showed that using school fans and ducts to exchange indoor air with outdoor air five times an hour reduced the risk of COVID-19 infection by at least 80 percent.

In the U.S., until May of this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finally recommended at least one air exchange rate.

"If you look at how we design and operate buildings - and I mean offices, schools, local coffee shops - we haven't designed them with health in mind," Allen said. - "We have minimum standards. "

Level Improvement''building filtration is an easy and inexpensive change that can not only protect against COVID-19, but also reduce flu cases and protect against smoke from wildfires, outdoor air pollution and allergens, according to Allen.

Some companies are now turning their attention to indoor air for the health of their workers as well as the health of their financials. Allen diagnoses problems in air exchange systems and develops solutions for clients including CBS parent company Paramount. He has also worked with commercial real estate Beacon Capital Partners and Amazon. Allen consulted for Amazon before opening a 22-story office building in Arlington, Virginia, last May.

The top floor of the new offices''Amazon are in a maze of pipes and ductwork. It's part of a $2.5 million HVAC system that starts with huge vents and controls on the roof.

"COVID-19 changed everyone's mind about air quality, transmission of infectious diseases," said Kathy Hughes, Amazon's director of health and safety.

JPMorgan Chase says their new headquarters in New York City will have state-of-the-art air quality control systems. Another skyscraper in New York City, One Vanderbilt, is already running a modern ventilation, heating and air conditioning system.

"Health-promoting buildings" can bring workers back to offices, Allen said. "All things being equal, to which''COVID-19 strains and the start of flu season Allen isn't worried about people forgetting the importance of air exchange systems in buildings. He sees a fundamental change in the scientific and medical community, with companies paying attention to how building design affects the health of their employees.

"I don't think we're going to forget these lessons," Allen said. - "We had better not forget. "