During the previous week, I’ve gotten a lot of emails asking concerning the climate on Thanksgiving Day.
Why? Because a lot of of us are planning on having their vacation meal exterior of their storage, with the door open, to reduce the danger of COVID-19 transmission.
And it’s true: a complete search of the medical literature suggests little proof of out of doors transmission. COVID-19 unfold is predominantly an issue in indoor areas with poor air flow, significantly when giant variety of individuals keep in such areas for a sustained time frame.
COVID-19 particle focus ranges are critical–lowering the concentrations can enormously cut back the danger and the severity of the illness in case you get it. Outside, there’s a big quantity of dispersion of particles, so focus are inevitably low.
So having fun with your meal in a storage with open doorways enormously lessens the danger of COVID-19, little doubt about it. And the newest forecasts recommend western Washington can have a dry Thanksgiving Day with no rain within the lowlands, gentle winds, and seasonal temperatures (higher 40s).
Wear a sweater and cap, and add a warmth lamp or radiant warmth, and it could be okay. Some heat cider or a sizzling toddy may make it higher than that.
But for these of us shall be having individuals over and wish to keep away from transferring to the storage, there’s a highly effective device you need to use to cut back the potential for COVID-19 transmission: filtration of the air with high of the road furnace filters or a top quality air air purifier system.
I do know a bit about this strategy due to the current wildfires and their resultant smoke. And the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the EPA acknowledge the worth of air filtration for COVID as nicely.
The backside line: an excellent furnace filter or air air purifier system ought to be capable to enormously cut back the numbers of COVID-19 aerosols within the air you breath indoors (if there are any, after all).
COVID-19 Particle Sizes
The COVID-19 virus is about .1 micron in measurement (a micron is a millionth of a meter). But the virus usually is enveloped in small aerosol droplet produced once we exhale or cough, starting from .3-1 microns for the smallest to 3-10 microns for bigger ones.
It seems the prime quality furnace filters can very successfully take away particles in these measurement ranges: filters which are referred to as MERV 15 or FPR 10.
This summer season, one in all my UW colleagues and mountain climbing buddy, Professor Dan Jaffe, examined the flexibility of a furnace filter to wash the air in a single room. He created a really cheap filtration system, taping a MERV 13 furnace filter to a field fan (whole price about $40).
There had been lots of particles within the air from the regional fires, so this was severe take a look at! Below are the outcomes displaying the how the concentrations of particles of .3 and a couple of.5 microns modified in time. Just wonderful… most the particles had been taken out in 15 minutes. It would do the identical for COVID-19 aerosols. A lot of different teams have accomplished related checks with the identical outcomes.
Some of you might need constructed such a field fan filter in the course of the wildfire smoke interval, whereas others could have bought a industrial air air purifier. If you’ve pressured air warmth in your house or residence, guarantee that it has a MERV 13/FPR 10 filter in place, and set the fan to run repeatedly.
This was confirmed to work very nicely for wildfire smoke (whose measurement is just like small COVID-19 droplets)
Image courtesy of Dan Jaffe
If you’ve a hearth in your house or residence, use it, and open up a window. The fire will suck in plenty of exterior air and heat you as much as compensate. More exterior air will assist cut back COVID-19 aerosol focus.
This sort of air filtration is not going to essentially remove any COVID danger, however is one strategy to lessening airborne transmission. Enjoy your vacation meal.
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