Asthma stakeholders have long recognized the importance of air quality. Understanding the numerous factors that make indoor air quality worse, asthma advocates have worked to reduce the presence of environmental asthma triggers — like mold or harmful cleaning products — while also incorporating the important roles of ventilation and filtration into recommendations and policies. Similarly, asthma advocates have recognized the role of poor outdoor air quality in contributing to asthma disparities for low-income communities and communities of color.
Given this understanding, you may be particularly interested in and well-equipped to educate communities about the role of aerosol transition in COVID-19. A new resource can help: scientists and engineers with years of collective research experience on indoor air quality, aerosol science, aerosol disease transmission, and engineered control systems for aerosols have come together to produce a publicly accessible document, FAQs on Protecting Yourself from COVID-19 Aerosol Transmission.
The authors explain, “The goal of these FAQs is to provide information to the general public in an efficient manner about how to prevent aerosol transmission of COVID-19, with the hope that this will allow more informed decision making by individuals or organizations….Having multiple experts working together, and having the ability to update this information also improves its quality.”
The FAQs address such information as the definition of aerosol transmission, the distinction between aerosol and droplet transmission, the role of humidity and temperature on aerosol transmission, and the length of time that SARS-CoV-2 remains infectious in aerosols. This information is then followed up a robust list of recommendations, addressing such things as aerosol transmission in cars, schools, airplanes, and outdoors, as well as the role of masks, ventilation, and filtration in limited aerosol transmission.
We hope you find this information useful!
Warm regards,
RAMP staff
