Air quality regulations need to be introduced to prevent future epidemics

Researchers say that water and food need similar indoor air quality regulations. Advanced ventilation systems can prevent epidemics such as COVID-19, just as water treatment protects against cholera, for example.

Air quality regulations need to be introduced to prevent future epidemics
/Thomas Kauka / East News /Reporter

Today, people spend most of their time indoors, but indoor air quality is not as regulated as water and food quality, scientists from an international team said, authors of a study published in Journal Science said. I am.

According to these experts, infections like COVID-19 can be prevented by improving the ventilation system. Air can transmit the virus in the same way as water (…) – confirm the professor who is the co-author of the post. Shelley Miller of the University of Colorado at Boulder. – This is a problem and we need to understand that we need tools to reduce the risk and potential exposure to viruses that have accumulated in the room air – researchers say.

The study was shown after the World Health Organization announced that SARS-CoV-2 was predominantly diffused in the air. Ten months ago, tissues realized that the virus could be transmitted via aerosols.

239 experts, including professors. Miller then wrote a public letter to medical institutions and authorities warning of the dangers of air travel. Researchers are now calling on the World Health Organization and authorities to develop and implement appropriate legislation regarding the presence of aerial viruses in buildings. According to experts, such a step has the same meaning as building a clean water and sewage system in the 19th century.

It will also correct an important misunderstanding that arose at that time. Well, at first I thought that cholera was spreading in the air. Only British doctor John Snow discovered the bacteria in the water. Similarly, Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis explained that washing hands before giving birth significantly reduces the number of infections. Despite the initial resistance, it is recognized that water infects the disease, not the air.

Later, in the early 1900s, American public health experts attributed many of the infections to large droplets of saliva thrown during a cough. Saliva quickly falls to the ground and works only at close range. Therefore, it effectively eliminated the possibility of transmission of the disease through the air. It was not until 1945 that William Wells published a treatise criticizing the omission of air as a vector of disease transmission. He supported his treatise in the study of tuberculosis and measles, but these views did not gain many supporters at the time.

The author of the new study says it’s time to start working. – Don’t wait for a new pandemic – call the professor. Jose Luis Jimenez, also from CU Boulder.

It requires the efforts of the entire community. When designing a building, you should not only provide minimal ventilation, but also take into account current respiratory illnesses such as influenza and the potential for future epidemics. Experts confirm.

The authors emphasize that the long-term neglect of air as a means of spreading the disease leaves a large gap in knowledge of building ventilation design and management. The exception is medical and industrial centers.

However, the disease-resistant ventilation system must be adapted to the type of room and the occupant’s breathing rate. Otherwise, these systems should work in a movie theater, for example, and in a different way in the gym. It’s also a good idea to enter a pandemic situation that leads to special filtering if needed. This saves energy.

According to scientists, the cost of implementing treatment is much lower than the cost of illness. They remember that the global monthly cost of COVID-19 is $ 1 trillion and the cost of influenza in the United States alone is over $ 10 billion. A full economic analysis has not yet been done, but researchers say the cost of proper ventilation should not exceed 1%. Total price to build a typical building.