The food we eat is monitored and controlled at its source to avoid disease, and the water we drink is analyzed and studied for the same reason. But the air we breathe is hardly controlled and regulated. Here’s the great lesson from the coronavirus pandemic: You have to regulate the air to avoid the next one. An international group of 40 professionals in virology, medicine, aerosol, air quality and ventilation from 14 countries sign an article in the journal Science They call for organizing ventilation to combat airborne diseases such as Covid-19 and thus avoid epidemics in the future.
“In 1945, William F. Wells explained that tuberculosis is transmitted through the air and published in the previous journal of Science An article expressing his regret that the transmission of diseases such as cholera through water has been accepted, and therefore, they have established clean water systems and there is no longer disease outbreaks, explains José Luis Jimenez, an aerosol expert at the University of Colorado (USA). The same thing happens with food, there are systems in place so that the food does not transmit disease. However, nothing was done with the air.
Many diseases are transmitted in this way, such as influenza, colds and all respiratory diseases. This is a denial »
Jose Luis Jimenez, University of Colorado
Jose Luis Jimenez signs the text with Xavier Kierol, From the CSIC’s Institute of Environmental Diagnostics and Water Studies (IDAEA-CSIC), article world leader Lydia Morawska, From Queensland University of Technology (Australia). The signatories call for a “paradigm shift” in the fight against airborne pathogens. Researchers are demanding global recognition that infections can be prevented by improving indoor ventilation systems.
Since 1910, the transmission of diseases through the air has been denied. This has become a doctrine, which is the belief that respiratory diseases are transmitted through heavy droplets that fall to the ground and are not transmitted through the air, “Jimenez explains. Several decades later he was tested positive for tuberculosis. Later he was exposed to measles and chickenpox due to a super outbreak, As is the case in Covid. But many diseases such as influenza, colds and all respiratory diseases are transmitted in this way. He denied this. “
According to Jimenez, this epidemic focused on avoiding transmission because it was the only thing that could be done, as there were no treatments or vaccines, until recently. ”This is why so much evidence has emerged of transmission through the air. “The air, maybe through the air only, this has turned the tables. So other diseases that were said to be via droplets are definitely transmitted through the air.”
In March and June 2020, this international scientific team asked the WHO to recognize the need to control transmission of airborne respiratory infection. “At the World Health Organization they shouted at us, telling us we don’t know what we’re talking about, even Lydia Morawska, who has been investigating decades ago. They were locked up and not listening and what has never been proven is droplet transmission. It’s a scandalous situation, several diseases have appeared in the air. , But none of the drops appeared, but there is a closed intellectual position that the transmission is via droplets and they do not care about aerosols, “explains the professor at the University of Colorado.
For more than a year, we have been jointly alerted to the importance of indoor airborne transmission of the Coronavirus.
Xavier Kierol, CSIC
“For more than a year, we have been jointly alerting to the importance of indoor airborne transmission of the Covid-19 virus, and we have put in place guides to ventilate schools and have been advised in other settings. Now in Spain, it is necessary to apply mandatory standards and certificates in this regard for offices, restaurants and exhibitions. Public transportation, among other environments, ”notes Professor Xavier Querol, of IDAEA-CSIC.
Researchers’ outrage is calling for mandatory standards for building ventilation that include increased airflow, filtration rates, and screens that allow the public to monitor air quality in shared indoor spaces. According to the researchers, given the evidence that airborne transmission is spreading the infection, there should be national and international ventilation standards to control pathogens.
Researcher Lidia Morawska says that “ventilation systems must also be controlled according to demand to adapt to different occupations of indoor spaces, different activities and breathing rhythms, such as exercising in the gym or sitting in a movie theater.” “This does not mean that every interior space should be converted into a biosecurity facility, but the building must be designed and operated according to its purpose and the activities that take place there, so that the risk of airborne infection remains below an acceptable level,” Morawska explains.
Most minimum ventilation standards outside of healthcare and research facilities specialize in odor, carbon dioxide levels, temperature and humidity only.
