C19.life
The mission?
❦ The fewest reinfections as possible, with the lowest viral load, while as vaccinated as possible.
❦ one from the heart
‘There are two ways to be fooled.
One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.’
Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855)
The Ventilation and Warming of School Buildings By Gilbert B. Morrison Published by D. Appleton and Company, New York ( 1887 ) Accessed 10 Apr 2024 Preface (p.xxii) ❦ ‘I am fully convinced that people are prematurely dying by thousands simply from a lack of correct and positive convictions concerning impure air; for, when the true nature of a danger is fully appreciated, the requisite means to avert it will generally be found.’ ❂ Chapter II: The Effects Of Breathing Impure Air (pp.20-23) ❦ ‘Impure air is also believed by the best authorities to be one of the principal causes of epidemics. Dr. Carpenter, than whom there is no abler authority, says: “It is impossible for anyone who carefully examines the evidence to hesitate for a moment in the conclusion that the fatality of epidemics is almost invariably in precise proportion to the degree in which an impure atmosphere has been habitually respired.” The Board of Health of New York conclude that forty per cent of all deaths are caused by breathing impure air. In view of such alarming facts, this same board declares: “Viewing the causes of preventable diseases, and their fatal results, we unhesitatingly state that the first sanitary want in New York and Brooklyn is ventilation .” Direct experiment proves that the air in our school-rooms is impure in almost all cases, and in a majority of them to a degree far beyond the danger line. In view of these facts, and the results as proved by the authorities above cited, why is it regarded by the public with such indifference? When a school-house is blown down by a hurricane, killing and maiming a score of children, it is justly regarded as a great calamity; a vacation is given to quiet the excited fears of parents and children; investigating committees are appointed to locate the responsibility, and the faces of the whole populace are blanched with apprehension. Why is this? Why does the intelligent parent send his child to a school-room poorly ventilated and crowded with children, some of whom are breathing into a stagnant air the germs of disease and death, while others, from unwashed bodies, are delivering into it their deadly emanations, and all without a protest on the part of those even who provide proper hygienic conditions at home? It is because the effects of the one are immediate, occupy little time, the number killed can be actually counted, and the exact magnitude of the calamity estimated all at once. In the other case the process is slower, but of far greater extent; the actual results are by the general public less definitely known, and custom and attention to other matters divert the attention, and the deadly destruction of the innocents by impure air goes on silently, constantly, and powerfully. While noisy demonstrations like that of the cyclone attract attention, and inspire fear and terror, it is in the silent forces that the danger lies. Nature’s most destructive forces, as well as her strongest constructive ones, are silent in their operations; but when Science detects a silent, insidious enemy to human welfare, it is not only our duty to assume an attitude of self-defense and self-protection, but it should be regarded as folly not to do so.’ ❦ On high CO₂ levels connected to poor performance in schools: ‘The effects of breathing impure air thus far considered are pathological, but it has its pedagogical and economical aspects. Every observing teacher knows the immediate relation between the vitiated air in the school-room and the work he wishes the pupils to perform. Much of the disappointment of poor lessons and the tendency to disorder are due directly to this cause. The brain unsupplied with a proper amount of pure blood [oxygen] refuses to act, and the will is powerless to arouse the flagging energies; the general feeling of discomfort, dissatisfaction, and unrest which always accompanies a bad state of the blood. From an economical standpoint it would, of course, be impossible to estimate the financial waste of breathing impure air, but it can not but be enormous. In any discussion of the feasibility of incurring the additional expense of the most perfect ventilation, this loss occasioned by the want of such ventilation must not be ignored.’ ❂ Chapter III: The Air (pp.25-26) ❦ On ventilation, air filtration, and the super-spreading of diverse diseases in classrooms: ‘Wherever an unusual amount of unwholesome matter is being evolved, there especially should the purifying conditions be present; air in such places, to remain pure, must be changed in rapid succession, in order that dilution, diffusion, and oxidation may fulfill their legitimate functions. In a school-room the contaminating process can not but be rapid, and wherever ample provision is not made for rapidly changing the air of the room a dangerous condition of affairs is sure to exist. Bacteria of many forms, and spores of fungi, are also found in the air, and all these organisms are known to thrive in the organic impurities found in the air.’ ❂ Chapter IV: Examination Of The Air (p.33) ❦ On measuring CO₂ levels as a proxy to establishing content of (infectious) re-breathed air: ‘A complete analysis of impure air comprehends the quantitative and qualitative tests for carbonic [sic] dioxide, free ammonia, and other nitrogenous matter, oxidizable matters, nitrous and nitric acids, and hydrogen sulphide; but for ordinary practical purposes the determination of the CO₂ is by far the most important, and is ordinarily the only one which need be made. While the poisonous qualities of the air are not wholly due to the presence of the CO₂ per se, the amount of this gas found to be present is, in air made impure by respiration, generally a good measure for other impurities to which the poisonous quality is principally due. Owing to this fact, a careful test for the amount of CO₂ contained in a given atmosphere is generally the only one which need be made where air is tested merely to determine its respiratory purity.’ ❂ 📖 (Accessed 10 Apr 2024 ~ D. Appleton & Company / Google Books) The Ventilation and Warming of School Buildings ➤ ❂ My thanks to Maarten De Cock for alerting me to this gem of a book. ➲
❦ SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes Covid-19 – is airborne. In May 2021, the WHO officially recognised that SARS-CoV-2 is airborne via microscopic aerosols – meaning that the virus is transmissible through the air at both long and short range .
❦ ‘The occurrences of respiratory disorders among patients who survived for 30 days after the COVID-19 diagnosis continued to rise consistently, including asthma, bronchiectasis, COPD, ILD, PVD, and lung cancer. With the severity of the acute phase of COVID-19, the risk of all respiratory diseases increases progressively. Besides, during the 24-months follow-up, we observed an increasing trend in the risks of asthma and bronchiectasis over time, which indicates that long-term monitoring and meticulous follow-up of these patients is essential. These findings contribute to a more complete understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on the respiratory system and highlight the importance of prevention and early intervention of these respiratory sequelae of COVID-19. In this study, several key findings have been further identified. Firstly, our research demonstrates a significant association between COVID-19 and an increased long-term risk of developing various respiratory diseases. Secondly, we found that the risk of respiratory disease increases with severity in patients with COVID-19, indicating that it is necessary to pay attention to respiratory COVID-19 sequelae in patients, especially those hospitalized during the acute stage of infection. This is consistent with the findings of Lam et al., who found that the risk of some respiratory diseases (including chronic pulmonary disease, acute respiratory distress syndrome and ILD) increased with the severity of COVID-19. Notably, however, our study found that asthma and COPD remained evident even in the non-hospitalized population. This emphasizes that even in cases of mild COVID-19, the healthcare system should remain vigilant. Thirdly, we investigated differences in risk across time periods, as well as the long-term effects of COVID-19 on respiratory disease. During the 2-years follow-up period, the risks of COPD, ILD, PVD and lung cancer decreased, while risks of asthma and bronchiectasis increased. Fourthly, our study showed a significant increase of the long-term risk of developing asthma, COPD, ILD, and lung cancer diseases among individuals who suffered SARS-CoV-2 reinfection. This finding emphasizes the importance of preventing reinfection of COVID-19 in order to protect public health and reduce the potential burden of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection. Interestingly, vaccination appears to have a potentially worsening effect on asthma morbidity compared with other outcomes. This observation aligns with some previous studies that have suggested a possible induction of asthma onset or exacerbation by COVID-19 vaccination. It suggests that more care may be necessary for patients with asthma on taking the COVID vaccines. The underlying mechanisms associated with COVID and respiratory outcomes are not fully understood, but several hypotheses have been proposed. First, SARS-CoV-2 can persist in tissues (including the respiratory tract), as well as the circulating system for an extended period of time after the initial infection. This prolonged presence of the virus could directly contribute to long-term damage of the respiratory tissues, consequently leading to the development of various respiratory diseases. Second, it has been observed that SARS-CoV-2 infection can lead to prolonged immunological dysfunctions, including highly activated innate immune cells, a deficiency in naive T and B cells, and increased expression of interferons and other pro-inflammatory cytokines. These immune system abnormalities are closely associated with common chronic respiratory diseases – asthma, bronchiectasis, COPD, as well as the development of lung cancer. Next, SARS-CoV-2 itself has been shown to drive cross-reactive antibody responses, and a range of autoantibodies were found in patients with COVID-19. In conclusion, our research adds to the existing knowledge regarding the effects of COVID-19 on the respiratory system. Specifically, it shows that the risk of respiratory illness increases with the severity of infection and reinfection. Our findings emphasize the importance of providing extended care and attention to patients previously infected with SARS-CoV-2.’ ❂ 📖 (17 Feb 2024 ~ The Lancet: eClinical Medicine) Long-term risks of respiratory diseases in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2: a longitudinal, population-based cohort study ➤ © 2024 The Lancet: eClinical Medicine .
❦ Person puts hand in flame. Gets burnt. Knows fire burns flesh. Has a fear of getting burnt in the future, because fire and flesh create undesirable pain. Lives in a permanent state of fear of fire for rest of life? No. Becomes cautious of fire, and takes precautions to not be burnt again. If anybody accuses you of ‘living in fear’ for taking precautions to avoid catching SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) again and again, know that you are, in fact, ‘living with sensible caution’ – as you know that the headaches and heart attacks and strokes and plaque build-up in arteries and the killing of one’s own parents and the reduction of your children’s IQ and your daily fatigue and your memory disorders and immune dysregulation and your new-onset susceptibility to other opportunistic viral, bacterial and fungal infections, and your high blood pressure, and your aggressive, new-onset or recurrence of cancer and the rapid, aggressive, new-onset dementia – are all things you should rightly be afraid of. For yourself, and for other people. But SARS2 is clever. You often only feel the burn weeks or months later, and you don’t make the connection between the time you stuck your hand in a fire and the now-septic wound that has worked its way into the gristle of your fingers. SARS2 isn’t stupid, you know, and it has had four years of mutating repeatedly inside several billion humans and animals to hone its game while we sit on the lawn and watch our house burn down. ❂ © 2023 C19.Life .
❦ I have seen a disproportionate number of young patients with advanced cancer over the last two years. They used to stand out: now it’s every week. The evidence points to direct Covid-driven mechanisms for rises in cancer risk. Will you hear about it in the news? Of course not. Covid’s over. It’s just anxiety now if you’re thinking about it. Except it’s not. It’ll take years for people to accept this. It’ll be too late. A number of my oncology colleagues have been commenting on how they’ve never seen such aggressively-progressive cancers in all their careers since Covid arrived. I’ve been seeing it as all these patients come to me. It isn’t normal. Alarm bells should be ringing loudly. The evidence: 📖 (22 Mar 2023 ~ Global Journal of Life Sciences and Biological Research) Cancer Related-Genes Enriched in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) of COVID-19 Patients: A Bioinformatics Study ➤ ‘SARS-CoV-2 can be considered a potential risk factor for increasing the probability of developing cancer.’ Study 1: 📖 (7 Jun 2022 ~ Frontiers in Oncology) SARS-CoV-2 M Protein Facilitates Malignant Transformation of Breast Cancer Cells ➤ ‘Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread faster due to the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants, which carry an increased risk of infecting patients with comorbidities, such as breast cancer.’ Study 2: 📖 (9 Aug 2022 ~ Journal of Infection ) Is SARS-CoV-2 an oncogenic virus? ➤ ‘Gene expression of p53 [tumour suppressor] is downregulated in blood of COVID-19 patients. Downregulation persists at least 24 weeks after infection in long COVID-19 patients. Long-term reduction of p53 could have impact on carcinogenesis.’ 📖 (9 Aug 2022 ~ Journal of Infection) Letter to the editor: Is SARS-CoV-2 an oncogenic virus? ➤ Study 3: 📖 (22 Mar 2023 ~ Global Journal of Life Sciences and Biological Research) Cancer related-genes enriched in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of COVID-19 patients. A bioinformatics study ➤ ‘Numerous cancer-related genes up-regulated in SARS-CoV-2-infected patients, particularly those genes participating in the cell-cycle regulation or engaged in cellular senescence processes.’ Study 4: 📖 (2 Jun 2023 ~ Biochimie) Possible cancer-causing capacity of COVID-19: Is SARS-CoV-2 an oncogenic agent? ➤ ‘One of the most worrying long-term effects of infection is the potential to induce malignant neoplasms, which will be a major health concern over the coming decades. SARS-CoV-2 infection affects many mechanisms that play a crucial role in cancer onset and progression including cell-cycle regulation, the RAAS system and inflammation / proliferation signaling pathways.’ ❂ Related reading : 📖 (9 Aug 2021 ~ Nature: Scientific Reports) More than 50 Long-term effects of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis ➤ 📖 (21 Jun 2021 ~ Nature: Scientific Reports) The risk of pancreatic adenocarcinoma following SARS-CoV family infection ➤ 📖 (4 Mar 2021 ~ Nature: Scientific Reports) COVID-19 engages clinical markers for the management of cancer and cancer-relevant regulators of cell proliferation, death, migration, and immune response ➤ 📖 (28 Jan 2021 ~ Nature: Scientific Reports) Meta-analysis of host transcriptional responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection reveals their manifestation in human tumors ➤ 📖 (25 Jan 2010 ~ Nature: Oncogene) Viral epigenome in human tumorigenesis ➤ 📖 (Dec 2006 ~ Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine) Viruses and human cancer ➤ ❂ © 2023 NHS Medical Consultant . ➲
❦ Whenever I hear someone ask if we’re expected to continue masking in healthcare settings forever, I immediately think of Semmelweis – the man who discovered that healthcare workers’ dirty hands were causing fever and death in patients. The result of his discovery wasn’t the widespread implementation of hand hygiene though... Instead he was shunned, ostracized, lost his job and eventually institutionalized. It took around fifty years before the life-saving value of hand-washing was fully recognized in healthcare. Fifty years. It turns out that doctors didn’t take kindly to the idea that their own hands were unhygienic – and the source of disease and death for some of their patients. Despite the evidence, the denial was rampant and it was strong. The majority consensus was that Semmelweis was a crank... The resistance to the idea that the air we exhale while caring for patients can be unhygienic, and a source of illness and death for some, feels exactly the same to me. Despite the evidence, the denial is strong. Many prefer to cling to the status quo they knew before the pandemic. But that status quo was when we didn’t know better, and when we didn’t have such a virulent and dangerous new airborne pathogen in permanent circulation. Now that we do, and now that we know better, we should be willing to do better. So if the air we breathe can be unhygienic, and cause illness and death in our patients, and we know there’s a simple, effective solution – filtering it through a respirator – then it seems logical that this would become the new standard in our clinics, hospitals and long-term care facilities. Permanently. But as with Semmelweis’ experience, I expect that suggestion to get a lot of pushback, and for it to take a very long time for the medical field to accept that the old status quo is gone, and that masking in healthcare is the new normal. I just hope it won’t take another fifty years. © 2023 Dr. Lisa Iannattone . ➲
❦ ‘Some viruses are known to be associated with the onset of specific cancers. These micro-organisms – oncogenic viruses or oncoviruses – can convert normal cells into cancer cells. Seven oncogenic viruses are known to promote tumorigenesis [tumour creation] in humans: Human papillomavirus (HPV) Hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV, HCV) Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) Human T-cell leukemia virus 1 (HTLV-1) Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) Recent research indicates that SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 progression may predispose recovered patients to cancer onset and accelerate cancer development . This hypothesis is based on the growing evidence regarding the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to modulate oncogenic pathways, promoting chronic low-grade inflammation and causing tissue damage.’ ❂ 📖 (25 Apr 2023 ~ International Journal of Molecular Sciences) Deciphering the Relationship between SARS-CoV-2 and Cancer ➤ © 2023 Costanzo et al / International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
❦ COVID-19 is fighting back by generally depressing the whole adaptive immune system. We are showing narrow resilience to COVID reinfections due to adapting – but we are becoming more vulnerable in general to infections of all kinds. ❦ Worst case scenario: a single infection causes on-going and progressive immunodeficiency . ❦ Best case scenario: a single infection causes temporary immunosuppression , and we suppress COVID transmission enough to allow recovery. ❦ Most likely scenario, medium-term: immunosuppression that becomes continuous and possibly progressive due to reinfections. Reduced immune function after a viral infection is not unusual. Many viruses do this. The concerning issue is the length and breadth of the immune system dysfunction, coupled with emerging evidence of other pathogens taking advantage. ❂ ❦ Immunosuppression ~ Suppression of the immune system and its ability to fight infection. ❦ Immunodeficiency ~ A state in which the immune system's ability to fight infectious diseases and cancer is compromised, or entirely absent. ❂ 📖 (13 Jan 2022 ~ Nature: Immunology) Immunological dysfunction persists for 8 months following initial mild-to-moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection ➤ © 2022 Dr. Noor Bari, Emergency Medicine ➲
❦ What should be a higher priority for society: preventing pigs from becoming sick, or preventing human illness? Personally, I place a higher value on preventing human illness. I think most would agree. Why, then, are pig barns far better ventilated than schools? An airborne virus has killed 900,000 Americans, and has left countless others suffering from Long Covid along with its chronic, and perhaps permanent, mental and physical afflictions. We know that ventilation and the filtration of indoor air prevents illness. The manifold benefits of improved ventilation are well-documented and uncontroversial. Professor Don Milton has been publishing studies for over twenty years showing that improved ventilation reduces respiratory illnesses and absences, though his findings were largely ignored. Yet we’ve done almost nothing to improve air filtration and ventilation in schools, workplaces, restaurants, and other buildings. The USA’s CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) gives lip service to ventilation – but has issued no minimum ventilation requirements, and offers no specific guidance. 📖 (26 Feb 2021 ~ CNN Health) CDC must encourage better ventilation to stop coronavirus spread in schools, experts say ➤ On the other hand, great cost and effort is put into ventilating and filtering the air in pig barns in order to prevent disease outbreaks. Let’s compare the ventilation and air-filtration of pig barns with buildings inhabited by human beings. First, note that airborne spread of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) was readily accepted based on circumstantial evidence and lab studies. French farms even installed HEPA filtration systems in pig barns, despite “no hard data to support” their use. Contrast this with the stubborn, year-long denial of airborne Covid spread by the WHO and CDC, despite abundant evidence. The precautionary principle is obeyed when pigs’ health is at stake, but not when human health is at risk. Incredibly, droplet dogma still reigns supreme in some places. Many are still fighting against appallingly ignorant public officials and nonsensical guidelines in Australia. [Insert ubiquitous poster from your hospital, doctor’s surgery, pharmacy, bowling alley or supermarket extolling the virtues of hand-washing and hand-sanitiser in a pandemic essentially driven by aerosol transmission .] Some officials haven’t gotten the memo yet: Covid is airborne . Many careful, controlled studies of ventilation and air-filtration in livestock facilities have been carried out, and the cumulative evidence compiled leaves little doubt of their effectiveness at preventing disease in farm animals. One of many examples: 📖 (July 2006 ~ Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research) Further evaluation of alternative air-filtration systems for reducing the transmission of Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus by aerosol ➤ In contrast, before Covid, research on ventilation, air-filtration and disease in human dwellings was pretty sparse. Linsey Marr, Don Milton, Julian Tang, Yuguo Li and others were lone voices in the wilderness, shouting into a void, and ignored by the CDC and the WHO. For buildings that humans inhabit, enforced minimum ventilation requirements are almost non-existent. The HVAC* in a school or nursing home can be completely non-functional, creating a superspreader environment, and with no legal consequences. * HVAC = Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning. This is not hypothetical. Here is one documented instance in which all 226 residents in a Canadian nursing home contracted Covid, resulting in over 70 deaths. 📖 (14 May 2020 ~ CBC News) Investigators look into catastrophic outbreak that infected all residents of TMR seniors' home, killing 70 ➤ The cause? A non-functioning ventilation system. And this was a less transmissible, pre-Alpha SARS-CoV-2 variant. 📖 (15 May 2020 ~ Radio Canada) Un CHSLD infecté à 100%, avec un système de ventilation en panne, préoccupe Québec ➤ The same private company owned another nursing home in which 96% of residents and 116 employees caught Covid, leading to the death of 66 residents. I think we can surmise that the ventilation in this facility was also very poor. Why were the ventilation systems in these nursing homes not audited? Because such auditing is simply not done – not in nursing homes, schools, workplaces or restaurants. Ventilation and air-filtration recommendations exist, but not enforced standards. They’re essentially voluntary. What about pig barns? While there are no legal requirements, the ventilation and air-filtration systems at these facilities are assiduously checked every day by a worker whose sole duty is to inspect and maintain the ventilation equipment. 📖 (12 Nov 2016 ~ National Hog Farmer) Hog barn filtration system audits imperative to disease control ➤ No aspect of the system is left unchecked. “Look for any gaps or openings that would allow dirty air in... Make sure chutes collapse properly, creating a good seal.” “Cracked fan housings or a broken shroud” are checked for, and “weep holes plugged with a rubber stopper...” But daily inspection is only the start. In addition, at least once a month, a system filtration technician (SFT) audits the ventilation system, coaching the on-site manager. Another monthly audit is performed by the herd veterinarian, who guides the SFT. In contrast, human dwellings (such as nursing homes) are virtually never audited, even during a pandemic. It apparently requires a court order for such an audit to occur. Are HVAC systems in human-occupied buildings well maintained? HVAC expert Jeffrey Siegel: “The best HVAC in the world performs poorly when it’s not well maintained, and the usual standard is ‘not well maintained’.” The same article* describes an HVAC unit installed upside-down in a large store, making it impossible to change the filter, meaning that “... the air inside the store would be that much crummier”. It was like “a thousand other HVAC mistakes” Siegel has seen: “... dampers supposed to admit outside air into a building rusted open or shut, badly-installed filters letting air pass around their edges, forced-air fans running 18% of the time. In theory, HVAC heats and air-conditions. In practice, it doesn’t always ventilate... or filter.” * 📖 (9 Nov 2020 ~ Wired) The Next Covid Dilemma: How to Make Buildings Breathe Better ➤ What sort of air filters are used for pig barns? First, a mesh net catches larger objects in the air, such as feathers. Then the air goes through a MERV 8 ‘pre-filter’. This pre-filter is of a higher grade than the filters used in many schools, which are MERV 7. After passing through the MERV 8 pre-filter, air entering pig barns is filtered by MERV 15 air filters – similar to the filters used in hospitals. Very few schools, workplaces, nursing homes or restaurants use anything above MERV 11. MERV 15 is unheard of. Does such high-quality ventilation and filtration of pig barns reduce disease outbreaks? Of course it does, as the extensive literature on livestock-facility ventilation and air-filtration attests. 📖 (May 2012 ~ Viruses) Evaluation of the long-term effect of air filtration on the occurrence of new PRRSV infections in large breeding herds in swine-dense regions ➤ However, there is a potential problem: what if some of the dirty air from the human-occupied office building on a farm were to leak into the pig barn? Perish the thought! To allow pigs to breathe the same filthy air breathed by humans would be unthinkable. Therefore, pig farms are designed so that none of the filthy air from the farm’s human office is allowed to contaminate the pristine, highly-filtered air of the pig barn. (“If there is dirty air in the office, it will stay in the office.”) The notion of providing pig-quality air to the office is considered so absurd that it doesn’t merit consideration. After all, if the health of the workers on a farm is improved, this doesn’t affect profits. A sick pig, on the other hand, hurts the bottom line. Priorities... One article on the ventilation and air-filtration of pig barns notes a peculiar “side benefit” of improving the pigs’ air: human workers notice the better air, and seem healthier for it. How much healthier? No-one knows, as such trivial topics as worker health are not researched. So why is the air quality in human buildings so poor? Why haven’t greater efforts been made to improve indoor air quality (IAQ), the enormous benefits of which are well-known and uncontroversial? After all, we regulate water and food safety. Why not indoor air? The WHO recommends schools and other buildings have at least 6 air changes per hour (ACH). A typical school HVAC provides less than 1 ACH. IAQ experts recommend CO2 levels be less than 800 ppm (or less than 700 ppm in a pandemic), but CO2 levels regularly reach much higher levels in schools. I’ve occasionally registered levels near 3000 ppm; others report readings higher than 4000 ppm. What about hotels? I stayed in a room at the Disney Caribbean Resort Hotel with my brother. CO2 reached well over 3000 ppm each night. I did a CO2 decay study, and found that the room got 0.11 air changes per hour. Not good. It’s long past time to greatly improve ventilation and air filtration by imposing serious, enforced IAQ standards in nursing homes, schools, workplaces and other public spaces. Many aerosol and IAQ experts have been calling for this for a long time. 📖 (14 May 2021 ~ Science) A paradigm shift to combat indoor respiratory infection ➤ Only recently have their calls gained traction. The vast majority of people would be much better off if IAQ were improved through better ventilation and filtration. We spend the majority of our lives indoors. Proper air filtration and ventilation would enormously improve the air we breathe. When we think of air pollution, we usually think of lung damage. But polluted air damages all organs of the body. With cleaner air, brain function would improve; heart attacks and strokes would fall; illness would be reduced. It works for pigs. It can work for humans, too. Air pollution is possibly the single largest health problem in the world. It causes the loss of more years of life than alcohol and narcotics, unsafe water, HIV, malaria, and war combined. Cleaning the air we breathe is essential. However, the pecuniary interests of the 1% of landlords, real-estate magnates, business owners, and capitalists in general might not be so well-served. Installing better ventilation systems and air filters in human dwellings might put a dent in their investment returns – an unthinkable notion. To sum up. Improving indoor air quality in human dwellings merely improves the health and well-being of humans – a minor consideration – while improving air quality in pig barns improves profits: a sacred objective, and the chief aim of life under capitalism. ❂ Related : 📖 (10 Aug 2020 ~ The Conversation) How to use ventilation and air filtration to prevent the spread of coronavirus indoors ➤ Related : 📖 (28 Sep 2020 ~ Quartz) What everyone should know about ventilation and preventing Covid-19 ➤ ❂ © 2022 Ryan Hisner . ➲
c19.life blog
❦ one from the head
“I’ll let you in on another special secret; it’s not anxiety.
It’s a calm determination to maintain health, in the full knowledge of what Covid can do.”
NHS Palliative Care Medicine Consultant (2023)
on the heart
Heart attacks, strokes and other major adverse outcomes doubled in people post-COVID at one year.
Dr. Andrea DeVries (2023)
❦ on repeat infections
‘Repeated exposure to a virus such as SARS-CoV-2 will fast-track more people into immunosenescence at ever-earlier ages, with potentially serious repercussions for their health and longevity.’
The John Snow Project (2023)
➲ Immunosenescence ~ The gradual deterioration of the immune system, normally brought on by natural age advancement.
Immunosenescence is closely related to the development of infections, autoimmune diseases, and malignant tumors.
on the brain
‘Those infected with the [SARS-CoV-2] virus are at increased risk of developing a range of neurological conditions in the first year after the infection. Such complications include strokes, cognitive and memory problems, depression, anxiety and migraine headaches.’
Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly (2023)
❦ on cognitive decline & mildness
‘Strikingly, even asymptomatic and mild-diseased patients may evolve with important neurological and psychiatric symptoms such as confusion, memory loss, cognitive decline and chronic fatigue, associated or not with anxiety and depression.’
Jean Pierre Peron, Neuroimmunologist (2023)
❦ on reduced libido
‘Statistics are significant regarding the link between COVID-19 and impotence.
“We found the risk of getting diagnosed with erectile dysfunction (ED) was about 20% higher in men who had COVID versus those who did not.”
Survey studies support the notion of a link between ejaculation difficulty and the virus – a study of nearly half a million adults published in Nature identified ejaculation difficulty and reduced libido as Long COVID symptoms in men.’
Carolyn Barber (2022)
on pregnancy & reproduction
On SARS-CoV-2 infections, female and male infertility, pregnancy, and the reproductive cycle.
❦ one from the heart
“Another huge secret...
Pretending problems don’t exist doesn’t solve anything.
I know. It’s wild.”
Dr. Noor Bari, Emergency Medicine (2023)
on babies & children
‘Death is not the main risk facing most children [regarding SARS-CoV-2 infections]. Disability is.’
Blake Murdoch (2023)
❦ on excess risk for the 50s to 64s
‘For middle-aged adults (50–64) in England from June 2022 to June 2023, the relative excess for almost all causes of death examined was higher than that seen for all ages.
Deaths involving cardiovascular diseases were 33% higher than expected, while for specific cardiovascular diseases, deaths involving ischaemic heart diseases were 44% higher, cerebrovascular diseases 40% higher and heart failure 39% higher.
Deaths involving acute respiratory infections were 43% higher than expected and for diabetes, deaths were 35% higher.
Deaths involving liver diseases were 19% higher than expected for those aged 50–64.
The pattern now is one of persisting excess deaths which are most prominent in relative terms in middle-aged and younger adults, with deaths from CVD [cardiovascular] causes and deaths in private homes being most affected.’
The Lancet (Regional Health Europe) (2023)
on immunity
“People do become very worried if you compare COVID-19 to HIV, but actually HIV has good treatment and life expectancy now.”
Dr. Noor Bari, Emergency Medicine (2023)
❦ on biohazard levels
“Infection control guidelines are fundamentally flawed: SARS-CoV-2 is airborne.
It is outrageous that three-and-a-half years into this pandemic, staff and patients are still, knowingly and repeatedly, being exposed to a level-3 biohazard – a virus known to cause brain damage and significantly increased risk of life-threatening blood complications even in those recovered.”
Dr. K. Fearnley, NHS (England) (2023)
➲ Biohazard Level 3 ~ SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – is classed as a Biohazard Level 3.
Other BHL-3 examples include Yellow fever, West Nile virus, plague [Yersinia pestis], and the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB).
Biohazard Level 3 pathogens can cause serious or potentially lethal disease through inhalation.
➲ Biohazard Level 2 ~ Agents that can cause severe illness in humans, and are transmitted through direct contact with infected material.
BHL-2 examples include HIV, Zika virus, hepatitis B, and salmonella.
➲ Biohazard Level 4 ~ The highest biohazard level.
Pathogens that pose a high risk of life-threatening disease for which there are no treatments.
BHL-4 examples include the Ebola virus, Marburg virus, and Lassa virus.
on air: transmission
“Infection control guidelines are fundamentally flawed: SARS-CoV-2 is airborne.”
Dr. K. Fearnley, NHS (England) (2023)
❦ on chains of airborne transmission
“I think a big problem is that many people’s conceptions of morality do not extend to invisible viral transmission and indirect chains of harm.
Punching someone in the face and bloodying their nose is unconscionable.
Killing a hundred people in a chain of negligent transmission?
No biggie.”
Blake Murdoch (2023)
on air: solutions
“There is no way out of this problem that does not involve suppressing transmission of C-19.”
Dr. Noor Bari, Emergency Medicine (2023)
❦ on clean air, water and food
“We regulate water safety and food safety in an effort to decrease population rates of waterborne and foodborne illnesses.
Having clean air standards to lower the rates of respiratory illnesses isn’t radical.”
Dr. Lisa Iannattone (2023)
C-19 Blog
“You can’t get someone to understand something if their lifestyle depends on them not understanding it.”
Sunspots (2023)
The Ventilation and Warming of School Buildings By Gilbert B. Morrison Published by D. Appleton and Company, New York ( 1887 ) Accessed 10 Apr 2024 Preface (p.xxii) ❦ ‘I am fully convinced that people are prematurely dying by thousands simply from a lack of correct and positive convictions concerning impure air; for, when the true nature of a danger is fully appreciated, the requisite means to avert it will generally be found.’ ❂ Chapter II: The Effects Of Breathing Impure Air (pp.20-23) ❦ ‘Impure air is also believed by the best authorities to be one of the principal causes of epidemics. Dr. Carpenter, than whom there is no abler authority, says: “It is impossible for anyone who carefully examines the evidence to hesitate for a moment in the conclusion that the fatality of epidemics is almost invariably in precise proportion to the degree in which an impure atmosphere has been habitually respired.” The Board of Health of New York conclude that forty per cent of all deaths are caused by breathing impure air. In view of such alarming facts, this same board declares: “Viewing the causes of preventable diseases, and their fatal results, we unhesitatingly state that the first sanitary want in New York and Brooklyn is ventilation .” Direct experiment proves that the air in our school-rooms is impure in almost all cases, and in a majority of them to a degree far beyond the danger line. In view of these facts, and the results as proved by the authorities above cited, why is it regarded by the public with such indifference? When a school-house is blown down by a hurricane, killing and maiming a score of children, it is justly regarded as a great calamity; a vacation is given to quiet the excited fears of parents and children; investigating committees are appointed to locate the responsibility, and the faces of the whole populace are blanched with apprehension. Why is this? Why does the intelligent parent send his child to a school-room poorly ventilated and crowded with children, some of whom are breathing into a stagnant air the germs of disease and death, while others, from unwashed bodies, are delivering into it their deadly emanations, and all without a protest on the part of those even who provide proper hygienic conditions at home? It is because the effects of the one are immediate, occupy little time, the number killed can be actually counted, and the exact magnitude of the calamity estimated all at once. In the other case the process is slower, but of far greater extent; the actual results are by the general public less definitely known, and custom and attention to other matters divert the attention, and the deadly destruction of the innocents by impure air goes on silently, constantly, and powerfully. While noisy demonstrations like that of the cyclone attract attention, and inspire fear and terror, it is in the silent forces that the danger lies. Nature’s most destructive forces, as well as her strongest constructive ones, are silent in their operations; but when Science detects a silent, insidious enemy to human welfare, it is not only our duty to assume an attitude of self-defense and self-protection, but it should be regarded as folly not to do so.’ ❦ On high CO₂ levels connected to poor performance in schools: ‘The effects of breathing impure air thus far considered are pathological, but it has its pedagogical and economical aspects. Every observing teacher knows the immediate relation between the vitiated air in the school-room and the work he wishes the pupils to perform. Much of the disappointment of poor lessons and the tendency to disorder are due directly to this cause. The brain unsupplied with a proper amount of pure blood [oxygen] refuses to act, and the will is powerless to arouse the flagging energies; the general feeling of discomfort, dissatisfaction, and unrest which always accompanies a bad state of the blood. From an economical standpoint it would, of course, be impossible to estimate the financial waste of breathing impure air, but it can not but be enormous. In any discussion of the feasibility of incurring the additional expense of the most perfect ventilation, this loss occasioned by the want of such ventilation must not be ignored.’ ❂ Chapter III: The Air (pp.25-26) ❦ On ventilation, air filtration, and the super-spreading of diverse diseases in classrooms: ‘Wherever an unusual amount of unwholesome matter is being evolved, there especially should the purifying conditions be present; air in such places, to remain pure, must be changed in rapid succession, in order that dilution, diffusion, and oxidation may fulfill their legitimate functions. In a school-room the contaminating process can not but be rapid, and wherever ample provision is not made for rapidly changing the air of the room a dangerous condition of affairs is sure to exist. Bacteria of many forms, and spores of fungi, are also found in the air, and all these organisms are known to thrive in the organic impurities found in the air.’ ❂ Chapter IV: Examination Of The Air (p.33) ❦ On measuring CO₂ levels as a proxy to establishing content of (infectious) re-breathed air: ‘A complete analysis of impure air comprehends the quantitative and qualitative tests for carbonic [sic] dioxide, free ammonia, and other nitrogenous matter, oxidizable matters, nitrous and nitric acids, and hydrogen sulphide; but for ordinary practical purposes the determination of the CO₂ is by far the most important, and is ordinarily the only one which need be made. While the poisonous qualities of the air are not wholly due to the presence of the CO₂ per se, the amount of this gas found to be present is, in air made impure by respiration, generally a good measure for other impurities to which the poisonous quality is principally due. Owing to this fact, a careful test for the amount of CO₂ contained in a given atmosphere is generally the only one which need be made where air is tested merely to determine its respiratory purity.’ ❂ 📖 (Accessed 10 Apr 2024 ~ D. Appleton & Company / Google Books) The Ventilation and Warming of School Buildings ➤ ❂ My thanks to Maarten De Cock for alerting me to this gem of a book. ➲
❦ A comprehensive collection of review articles regarding airborne transmission of pathogens , by Jonathan Mesiano-Crookston. ❂ Accessed : 4 March 2024 . 📖 (November 2022 ~ Geoscience Frontiers) Aerosol Transmission of Human Pathogens: From Miasmata to Modern Viral Pandemics and Their Preservation Potential in the Anthropocene Record ➤ 📖 (21 Aug 2022 ~ Indoor Air) What were the historical reasons for the resistance to recognizing airborne transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic? ➤ 📖 (31 Jan 2022 ~ Indoor Air: Editorial) Hypothesis: All respiratory viruses (including SARS-CoV-2) are aerosol-transmitted ➤ 📖 (November 2021 ~ Interface Focus) How Did We Get Here: What Are Droplets and Aerosols and How Far Do They Go? A Historical Perspective on the Transmission of Respiratory Infectious Diseases➤ 📖 (27 Aug 2021 ~ Science ) Airborne Transmission of Respiratory Viruses ➤ 📖 (August 2021 ~ Nature Reviews: Microbiology) Transmissibility and Transmission of Respiratory Viruses ➤ 📖 (July 2021 ~ Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering) Fluid Dynamics of Respiratory Infectious Diseases ➤ 📖 (14 May 2021 ~ Science) A Paradigm Shift to Combat Indoor Respiratory Infection ➤ 📖 (1 May 2021 ~ The Lancet) Ten Scientific Reasons in Support of Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 ➤ 📖 (18 Jan 2021 ~ Clinical Infectious Diseases) Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2: What We Know ➤ 📖 (12 Jan 2021 ~ The Journal of Hospital Infection) Dismantling Myths on the Airborne Transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) ➤ 📖 (1 Jan 2021 ~ Canadian Medical Association Journal) Mitigating Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 ➤ 📖 (November 2020 ~ Environment International) Aerosol Transmission of SARS-CoV-2? Evidence, Prevention and Control➤ 📖 (16 Oct 2020 ~ Science) Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 ➤ 📖 (1 Sep 2020 ~ Environment International) How Can Airborne Transmission of COVID-19 Indoors Be Minimised? ➤ 📖 (August 2020 ~ Anaesthesia) Airborne Transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 to Healthcare Workers: A Narrative Review ➤ 📖 (6 July 2020 ~ Clinical Infectious Diseases) It Is Time to Address Airborne Transmission of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) ➤ 📖 (June 2020 ~ Environment International) Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2: The World Should Face the Reality➤ 📖 (May 2020 ~ Risk Analysis) Consideration of the Aerosol Transmission for COVID‐19 and Public Health➤ 📖 (16 April 2020 ~ The Journal of Infectious Diseases) Airborne or Droplet Precautions for Health Workers Treating Coronavirus Disease 2019? ➤ 📖 (26 March 2020 ~ JAMA) Turbulent Gas Clouds and Respiratory Pathogen Emissions: Potential Implications for Reducing Transmission of COVID-19 ➤ 📖 (28 Aug 2019 ~ Encyclopedia of Microbiology) Airborne Infectious Microorganisms ➤ 📖 (31 Jan 2019 ~ BMC Infectious Diseases) Recognition of Aerosol Transmission of Infectious Agents: A Commentary➤ 📖 (September 2016 ~ American Journal of Infection Control) Generic Aspects of the Airborne Spread of Human Pathogens Indoors and Emerging Air Decontamination Technologies ➤ 📖 (15 Nov 2011 ~ Advances in Preventive Medicine) Preventing Airborne Disease Transmission: Review of Methods for Ventilation Design in Health Care Facilities ➤ 📖 (October 2006 ~ The Journal of Hospital Infection) Factors Involved in the Aerosol Transmission of Infection and Control of Ventilation in Healthcare Premises ➤ 📖 (January 1987 ~ Critical Reviews in Environmental Control) Spread of Viral Infections by Aerosols➤ ❂ © 2024 ➲ Jonathan Mesiano-Crookston . ➲
❦ SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes Covid-19 – is airborne. In May 2021, the WHO officially recognised that SARS-CoV-2 is airborne via microscopic aerosols – meaning that the virus is transmissible through the air at both long and short range .
C-19 Blog
❦ on illness & public duty
“I do find the ease with which people have been indoctrinated to embrace and accept illness, almost as a public duty, to be quite odd.”
Dr. David Berger, Emergency Medicine (2023)
