3 ms·
Ah - I see where we are talking at cross purposes. I am primarily thinking of "dirty air" in the context of airborne diseases (e.g., Covid and flu). This can
by isp 3y ago
Ah - I see where we are talking at cross purposes.
I am primarily thinking of "dirty air" in the context of airborne diseases (e.g., Covid and flu).
This can be any enclosed indoor place with people and without mitigations, i.e., doesn't require wildfires or stoves.
The mitigations to clean this indoor "dirty air" can be either replacing with outdoor air, or directly "cleaning" by removing or inactivating the disease particles (e.g., with HEPA filters / UVGI).
- taeric 3y agoCovid is, oddly, a specific one that has me scratching my head. I am all for increased ventilation. I have a hard time grokking any of the claims on covid. Note that it is easy to believe most claims, except schools stand in the way. The outlandish claims that so many have held about the magic of ... well, anything, seems to fall in the face of why it didn't demolish schools. It clearly spread through the schools. Just as I have friends where it hit their family, but didn't spread to us this round. Somehow. I don't think I can credit good hygiene for my family. Certainly not the 5yo. Again, I'm all for ventilation standards. They certainly shouldn't make things worse. By all reasoning, they should make things better. Claims against Covid/Flu, though, I take with some salt right now. I'm hopeful, but not sure I'm expecting anything there.
- isp 3y agoI am definitely not one for outlandish claims. Amidst all the noise, my understanding of the key points is: - We know that airborne diseases primarily spread indoors - We know that we can clean the air, and that cleaning the air reduces disease spread Putting the two together, I believe that cleaning the air can improve public health. I don't expect most diseases to disappear entirely. But I do expect a dramatic reduction. Analogy: like cholera. It hasn't disappeared entirely, but I don't personally need to think about it during my day-to-day life because the incidence rate is now so low.
- taeric 3y agoAgreed that, on that logic, I hope this works. I haven't recovered from the early claims that somehow kids were not getting covid, such that I have a hard time trusting what we "know" about the spread of some of these.
- PM_me_your_math 3y agoIt isn't practical to make every space as sterile as a clean room. Outside air also carries pathogens. Besides, humans and our ancestors have spent millions of years exposed to all sorts of things. It is why we have an immune system.
- isp 3y agoThis is a good example of exactly the kind of argument that would have been made against clean water 175 years ago, and which (I predict) will be unthinkable to make decades from now against clean air. The rise of respiratory pathogens corresponds with dense cities, which are only a few thousand years old. This is the blink of an eye in evolutionary terms. This is different for humans than for bats, which co-evolved for millions of years with such pathogens.