[HN Gopher] Improving ventilation will help curb SARS-CoV-2
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       Improving ventilation will help curb SARS-CoV-2
        
       Author : martincmartin
       Score  : 15 points
       Date   : 2021-05-30 21:09 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.economist.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.economist.com)
        
       | SllX wrote:
       | > The who therefore played down the risks of aerosols, issuing
       | guidance via its Twitter and Facebook pages at the end of March
       | 2020 that the general public need not worry. "FACT: #COVID19 is
       | NOT airborne," it said, adding that any claims to the contrary
       | were "misinformation".
       | 
       | Not quite the money quote, but on reading this I wanted to point
       | out one little thing.
       | 
       | This is also a form of authoritarianism, not the splashy kind
       | that has you making land wars in Asia or creating command
       | economies and seizing private property; but the bureaucratic "we
       | know better than you because we said so" kind. When authority is
       | invested in you, as it has been invested in the WHO, and you
       | abuse that authority to tell independent investigators not on
       | your payroll that they are just flat out wrong and the lines of
       | inquiry they are investigating are dead ends and they should just
       | shut up already, well, maybe you shouldn't have the authority you
       | were vested with.
       | 
       | Fortunately, we also live in a world where the UN and its
       | agencies do not have a monopoly on good information.
        
       | neonate wrote:
       | https://archive.is/e4057
        
         | leptoniscool wrote:
         | thank you for this!
        
       | Natsu wrote:
       | I've been reading stuff like this for some time now, I actually
       | had our ventilation redone, albeit for non-Covid reasons because
       | we had too much dust due to leaky vents causing asthma issues and
       | it makes things a lot better even without worrying about Covid.
       | 
       | I never could find any easy/good way to add UV to the mix without
       | having to redo everything again, though. I wonder if anyone knows
       | any easy/simple add-ons like the one we got to add a bidet to the
       | toilet to deal with the TP shortages.
        
         | laurent92 wrote:
         | I've bought the Coway AP-1512AH which filters air, and is
         | extremely silent, and I have a separate CO2-PM10-PM2.5
         | measurer. It does wonders against asthma. PMs go from
         | 25microgram/m3 to 1 in half an hour, which I trust because the
         | measurement tool is separate. I never succeeded to have less
         | than 10 before the Coway.
         | 
         | Before that, I would sneeze first thing in the morning, then
         | sneeze by rows of 10 times in Spring, 30 times a day, nose
         | bleeding from too much sneezing. I would also have an irritated
         | bronchitis which gave me slight asthma (but enough to make me
         | abandon intensive sports). Now I still have risk of asthma, but
         | at least when I want relief, I close the windows, switch on the
         | Coway, and breathe fresh air. I live in a city center of
         | average density.
         | 
         | However, CO2 fills up quickly. I wish I could find some
         | portable air exchanger: Taking air from outside, exchanging
         | temperature, and filtering. I've lodged a bit for a house which
         | has that, I'm hoping I'm selected.
        
       | akkawwakka wrote:
       | Easy to scoff at an obvious headline, but SARS-CoV-2 may very
       | well be endemic now. Going forward pandemic preparedness will no
       | longer be reserved for the Fortune 5s or 50s.
       | 
       | New construction for a while at least will hopefully consider
       | biosecurity and pandemic preparedness as concrete a threat as
       | natural disasters.
        
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       (page generated 2021-05-30 23:01 UTC)