Posts

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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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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CDC Admits the Coronavirus Is Airborne, Can Be Transmitted More Than 6 Feet Away

Source: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/05/cdc-coronavirus-airborne-infection-six-feet.html

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is finally acknowledging something that health experts have been saying for a while now: COVID-19 spreads through the air and can be inhaled by someone who is more than six feet away. The CDC said in a document published Friday that it has “repeatedly documented” instances of the virus spreading through the air to people who were more than six feet away “under certain preventable circumstances.” This marks a change for the agency that previously said most infections took place through “close contact, not airborne transmission.”

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

Source: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00869-2/

Heneghan and colleagues’ systematic review, funded by WHO, published in March, 2021, as a preprint, states: “The lack of recoverable viral culture samples of SARS-CoV-2 prevents firm conclusions to be drawn about airborne transmission”.1 This conclusion, and the wide circulation of the review’s findings, is concerning because of the public health implications.

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How Spanish Flu Pandemic Changed Home Heat Radiators

Source: https://www.npr.org/2020/12/10/945136599/how-spanish-flu-pandemic-changed-home-heat-radiators

NPR explores how the 1918 influenza outbreak changed the way home radiators were designed.

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COVID-19 will probably become endemic – here’s what that means

Source: https://theconversation.com/covid-19-will-probably-become-endemic-heres-what-that-means-146435

We can’t say with any certainty what the future of COVID-19 is. But based on our experience with other infections, there is little reason to believe that the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 will go away any time soon, even when vaccines become available. A more realistic scenario is that it will be added to the (large and growing) family of infectious diseases that are what is known as “endemic” in the human population.

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Solar hydrogen production: Splitting water with UV is now at almost 100% quantum efficiency

Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200603104547.htm

Pour yourself a glass of water and take a look at it. This water contains an abundant source of fuel, hydrogen. Hydrogen burns clean unlike petrol-based energy products. Sound too good to be true? Scientists in Japan successfully split water into hydrogen and oxygen using light and meticulously designed catalysts, and they did so at the maximum efficiency meaning there was almost no loss and undesired side reactions. This latest breakthrough in solar hydrogen production makes the likelihood of scalable, economically viable hydrogen production more than likely, paving the way for humanity to make the switch to clean energy.

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Why Ventilation Should Be Separate From Heating and Cooling Systems

Source: https://www.zehnderamerica.com/why-ventilation-should-be-separate-from-heating-and-cooling-systems/

We often get asked if our HRVs and ERVs can be coupled with a building’s heating and cooling system. It makes sense, right? If there is already a system of ducts in place for the furnace and or air conditioning system, why have a second parallel system? While it may be less expensive to combine the two systems together and it may save a little space, the project is better served by having independent systems that each focus on their task. This blog entry will explain the reasoning why. Note that for simplicity in writing I will use “HRV” to represent either an HRV or ERV system and “air handler” to represent a furnace, air conditioning system, heat pump etc – whatever forced-air system is meeting the heating and cooling needs of the building.

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