Let the World Know to Increase Airflow v. COVID-19
Attached is a letter you may use (and personalize and modify as needed) to alert hospitals, grocery stores, and any other places where people are at risk, to the need for increased airflow, ventilation, and filtering:
Download PDF: open-letter-airborne-transmission-protections-11april2020.pdf
Download Word Doc: open-letter-airborne-transmission-protections-11april2020.docx
In this time of global pandemic, do you worry about your local grocery workers? Those who shop there? Surely you worry about our front lines workers such as nurses, doctors, and EMTs in direct contact with people dying from the disease? Like me you may have close family and friends who are taking terrible risks as they work to save others’ lives.
DO NOT ASSUME THAT THEY HAVE TAKEN THESE MEASURES.
Please let them know!
You can use the attached letter with references.
Source: NPR (accessed April 11, 2020)
As the spread grows to every country, many of which are even less prepared than the United States, what can we do to minimize the damage? Isolation is essential, but where people must take risks, the air we breathe needs to be as clean as possible. Even opening doors or windows and using a small fan can make a measurable difference.
UPDATE (April 20, 2020): The New York Times reports today on a field research finding from China that it appears two families at nearby tables were infected by one person at another table due to the direction of air from an air conditioner.
- Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/health/airflow-coronavirus-restaurants.html
- Research Letter: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/7/20-0764_article#comment
#COVID19 #microparticles #coronavirus #pandemic #globalhealth
UPDATE (May 29, 2020): Almost 7 weeks later, News is finally catching up:
https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/study-covid-19-can-stay-airborne-for-hours-cdc-recommends-increasing-air-flow/
Meggs holds a Master’s in Public Health (Environmental Health Sciences Division) from the University of California at Berkeley.
The Meggs Report 