Aid In Avoiding Coronavirus: Keep A/C Off, Open Windows Instead

Some experts warn that the coronavirus can be spread through ventilation systems, and that means this summer could require a major rethinking of how often we turn on the air-conditioning.

KEY FACTS

Rather than use central air (or heating), people should climate control offices and homes by opening windows to prevent spread, say researchers from the University of Oregon and University of California-Davis.

Central air conditioners take warm air and cool it (and vice versa for heaters); a mechanism that can transmit viral particles from one apartment or office to another via passage of air between units.

“My advice: Supply households with 100% outside air, do not use recirculated air,” Qingyan Chen, who studies disease spread through ventilation as Purdue University’s James. G. Dwyer Professor of Mechanical Engineering, told Forbes.

Chen says the most essential practice around A/C and COVID-19 is to avoid hanging out near air conditioning exhaust, as this is where COVID-19 particles may be trapped, saying that if you can wait three-to-four months to change your air conditioning filter, you should; otherwise, use gloves and discard the filter in a trash bag immediately.

For commercial spaces where opening a window is not an option, Chen recommends people wear masks and companies install glass partitions to separate workers in both office and factory settings who shared airspace pre-coronavirus.

This Center for Disease Control study looks at how diners at a restaurant contracted COVID-19 from air conditioning; the researchers conclude that restaurants should increase space between tables and improve ventilation.

Key background

Coronavirus being spread through ventilation units is an airborne method of the disease’s spread. However, there are three other methods of COVID-19 spread, according to Chen: The first, and most common, is direct contact or indirect contact with someone else. The second is through droplets from a cough, or skin-to-skin contact. The third is oral-fecal transmission, in which contagion from fecal matter is inadvertently ingested. However: there is no substantial research to trace origins of COVID-19 transmission on a case-by-case basis.
Qingyan Chen has studied virus spread through transit ventilation systems and is developing a ventilation system that would prevent the spread of pathogens with individuals only breathing their own air, according to Purdue University.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandrasternlicht/2020/04/22/aid-in-avoiding-coronavirus-keep-ac-off-open-windows-instead/#556f5288df8f