Physical distancing ‘not enough’ when indoors

Source: https://ottawacitizen.com/diseases-and-conditions/coronavirus/physical-distancing-not-enough-when-indoors/wcm/63935e85-e142-4650-ad89-761c1af52d4a

The study, conducted by the Penn State Department of Architectural Engineering and published in the journal Sustainable Cities and Society, examined three factors: the amount and rate of air moving through an indoor space, the airflow pattern associated with different methods of ventilation and the aerosol emission mode of breathing versus talking.–Nightbirde, the America’s Got Talent contestant, has died at age 31

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Schools improve ventilation ahead of new year but parents still not breathing easy

Source: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/schools-improve-ventilation-ahead-of-new-year-but-parents-still-not-breathing-easy-1.5577688

Kate Southwell has been preparing her four-year-old son for his first day of school all summer.
She has had him practise wearing a mask for extended periods of time and emphasized the importance of washing his hands before his first day at a school in Toronto’s east end. She’s also looked through the Toronto District School Board’s list of schools to see what kind of ventilation system her son’s building will have as COVID-19 infection rates in Ontario once again rise.

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Airborne transmission of respiratory viruses

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abd9149

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed critical knowledge gaps in our understanding of and a need to update the traditional view of transmission pathways for respiratory viruses. The long-standing definitions of droplet and airborne transmission do not account for the mechanisms by which virus-laden respiratory droplets and aerosols travel through the air and lead to infection. In this Review, we discuss current evidence regarding the transmission of respiratory viruses by aerosols—how they are generated, transported, and deposited, as well as the factors affecting the relative contributions of droplet-spray deposition versus aerosol inhalation as modes of transmission. Improved understanding of aerosol transmission brought about by studies of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection requires a reevaluation of the major transmission pathways for other respiratory viruses, which will allow better-informed controls to reduce airborne transmission.

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Employers hope to breathe easier and limit COVID-19 infections by improving ventilation

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Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-air-quality-workplaces-ventilation-1.6143588

Indoor air quality has become a personal matter for Shawn Stone.

His Toronto-based electronics distribution company, International Electronic Components Inc., which serves the health-care sector, was deemed an essential business by the Ontario government in March 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic.

With a dozen or so employees coming in and out of the office when necessary, he tried to follow government guidelines to protect them from COVID-19 — including everything from masking, temperature checks and hand sanitizer, to installing Plexiglass barriers between cubicles.

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We should install air purifiers with HEPA filters in every classroom. It could help with COVID, bushfire smoke and asthma

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Source: https://theconversation.com/we-should-install-air-purifiers-with-hepa-filters-in-every-classroom-it-could-help-with-covid-bushfire-smoke-and-asthma-166332

The smell of hazard reduction burn smoke in Sydney this week is an unwelcome reminder the bushfire season is almost upon us, and with it, the torment of having to breathe toxic air.
Even before the last of the 2019–20 Black Summer smoke dissipated, another deadly reminder of the importance of access to safe air arrived. COVID forced many of us to take a crash course in how to avoid respiratory viruses.

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Many major school ventilation upgrades won’t be ready by September. Here’s what you need to know about the precautions in place

Source: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/08/09/many-school-ventilation-upgrades-wont-be-ready-by-september-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-other-enormously-important-precautions-in-place.html

It’s a critical tool to keep kids and teachers safe : good ventilation . But as in – person learning returns , some ventilation upgrades funded through a federal – provincial cost sharing program will not be ready in time for September with projected completion dates spanning into next year .

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The pandemic has made the connection between indoor air quality and human health clearer than ever

Source: https://www.science.org/content/article/scientist-says-cleaning-indoor-air-could-make-us-healthier-and-smarter

Joseph Allen runs a major public health research project at Harvard University, probing how indoor air quality affects human health and cognition. He consults with companies on ventilation and air filtration, and during the pandemic he became a prominent voice on public health, writing dozens of op-eds criticizing early guidance from health authorities and debunking misconceptions about how the virus spreads. But none of it would have happened if he hadn’t washed out as an FBI recruit.

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Ontario Further Improving School Ventilation

Source: https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1000652/ontario-further-improving-school-ventilation

The Ontario government announced additional funding of $25 million to further improve ventilation in schools as students return for in-person learning this fall. This additional funding, which brings the net new investments in school ventilation to $600 million, will ensure that all occupied classrooms, gyms, libraries and other instructional spaces without mechanical ventilation have standalone high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter units in place when students are back in class, including Junior and Senior Kindergarten classrooms in mechanically ventilated schools to recognize that the youngest learners will not be wearing masks in the classroom.

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Doctors call for Canada to adopt airborne transmission protocols for COVID-19

Source: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/doctors-call-for-canada-to-adopt-airborne-transmission-protocols-for-covid-19-1.5464013

TORONTO — A group of doctors and health-care providers are calling on public health organizations in Canada to acknowledge airborne spread of COVID-19 and adjust restrictions accordingly.–The five doctors published a commentary in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) emphasizing that the spread of SARS-CoV-2 has an airborne component, something that’s been a topic of debate since before the novel coronavirus became a global threat.

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Cleaning indoor air may prevent COVID-19’s spread. But it’s harder than it looks

Source: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-air-spread-indoor-clean-ventilation-filtration

As restaurants, bars, businesses and schools reopen and mask requirements drop for the fully vaccinated, some people are asking how to bring in customers and students while still preventing COVID-19 infections from spreading. Some scientists and engineers are doing research that may help clear the air, making it safer for everyone to breathe.
Though no one solution works for all places, public spaces need to focus on proper ventilation, air filtration, germicidal ultraviolet lights and air quality monitoring rather than rigorously disinfecting surfaces, say many scientists who cite evidence that the virus lingers in the air.

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