Covid and A/C

[Yppej]

Although heat, humidity, and UV rays kill covid, at least on surfaces, cases are increasing in hot places like Florida, Texas, Arizona, Nevada and California. I saw on the news that the disease may be spreading through HVAC systems as people crank up the air conditioning.

Are you avoiding air conditioned places this summer? Or are you not concerned about this?

[jp1]

Being indoors with unmasked Infected people spreads covid. It doesn’t seem especially surprising that hoax systems circulating air might help blow it around the room more.

An article I read a month or so ago gave the example of an office where most of the people downwind from the infected person got sick by the people on the opposite side of the building mostly did not.

[Tybee]

It's been so darned hot here that I have been seeking out airconditioned places, because that's the only place I can breathe, but with the mask, I can't breathe there either. I was thinking of starting to walk in the mall again since that is open, but now I wonder. There's no place to go like the movies, which used to be my horrible hot refuge in years past. (We don't have airconditioning.)

It would make sense that it would be spread through the HVAC, given how it spreads so quickly on planes.

We had four new places identified in our town as having had an infected person--my town still does contact tracing, and tells people where an infected person was at what time. This week, it was a restaurant, a pub, and two flights into the local airport.
Last week it was four bars and all the wineries on a wine tour.

So I would definitely avoid bars and pub crawls and that sort of thing, not that I do that anyway!

[happystuff]

No AC here either, Tybee. I just "slow down" on those super hot and humid days. Makes for a lazy day, but... About the only place I go any more with AC is the grocery store once a week. Fortunately, there have been some breezy days here, so sitting outside has also worked, as well as wide-open windows. Good luck to you!!!

[ApatheticNoMore]

No it's not that I'm avoiding going places with A/C. It's that I'm avoiding going ANYWHERE that is inside (except the weekly groceries and seeing my partner and the bank once)

[JaneV2.0]

AC accelerated the spread of Legionnaire's Disease, as I recall, so I have no doubt it could contribute to the spread of COVID. I'm grateful we don't need it here, and I'm not going out anyway. They have personal swamp coolers you can get now, and portable AC for your home.

[bae]

"Tell us more about viral loads, persistence of suspended particulates in indoor environments, HVAC systems, droplet generation from speech, and so on...."

Gosh, there have been papers published on this, and related guidance, for ages now...

You could probably even find the links on this site.

[Teacher Terry]

When we lived in Wisconsin we didn’t have air until one really hot summer no one could sleep. We then put it in all the bedrooms so we could escape there. In Nevada most everyone has it. It cools down at night here but would be miserable during the day without it.

[iris lilies]

I’m not sure that it does spread quickly on airplanes. I read at least one article that justifies airplane air circulation systems as not problematic in that regard. People get sick on airplanes because we’re packed like Cattle in lines at airports and getting on and off planes.

[pinkytoe]

Road tripping as we are now has presented challenges with indoor spaces. I avoid all enclosed spaces except for the grocery. Hotels we ask for first floor and I open windows for a while. No AC at home but the basement offers some respite. I hate public restrooms right now and it has been a real challenge.

[Tybee]

Well, we just had the Y close down because of contact tracing; someone took 4 classes last week and they are contacting all patrons. So maybe breathing and sweating around others?

[catherine]

I spend nearly all my time at home. Very, very little time in AC'd places. My own home has no AC. I can't even think of where I might go--I go maybe once a week to the big supermarket, and I do spend about 5 minutes a day in the small supermarket on the island. Other than that, I don't think I need to be worried about getting COVID through AC systems.

I'm getting my hair cut for the first time since January on July 15, though.