Coronavirus
Technology Solutions
October 16, 2020
Big Run On HVAC Filters
Using Filtration, Ventilation and Differential
Pressure to Slow the Spread of Covid-19
ProGuard Filters Combine Chemical and Particle
Filtration
Both Air Pollutants and Virus in Indian Air will
Penetrate Inefficient or Loose Masks
___________________________________________________________________________
Big Run On HVAC Filters
Jim Rosenthal, CEO of Tex-Air Filters says that
his company is overwhelmed with orders. Sales
are up 15% but they could be much higher if he
could increase production. There is now a one
month backlog.
Rosenthal who was president of the
National Air Filtration Association is pursuing
industrial, business, and school applications.
Those arguing for greater filtration use in HVAC
includes Kimberly Prather, a professor at UCSD
who sees this filtration to be a key part of a
layered defense that includes mask wearing.
McIlvaine has been conducting interviews
on droplet evaporation with the UCSD. The fact
that large droplets are only temporarily
retained on mask, surface, or filter media
before splitting into small aerosols puts more
burden on efficient masks and filters.
Jeff Siegel at the University of Toronto says we
have been overlooking
HVAC for a long time and are now paying
the consequences.
Using Filtration, Ventilation and Differential
Pressure to Slow the Spread of Covid-19
The following article was written by Jim
Rosenthal, CAFS, and was posted on the Tex-Air
filter website.
One of the reasons the disease has
spread so fast and so widely is within-household
transmission. It is estimated that one in five
people living in the same household with someone
who has Covid-19 will contract the disease. We
tell people who have Covid-19 to
self-quarantine. But by doing so we often put
other family members at risk.
And what directions do we give to
Covid-19 sufferers who go into self-quarantine?
Wash your hands. Avoid contact with any other
household members. Clean surfaces. Wear masks.
Try to stay at least 6 feet away from others.
Ventilate with fresh air whenever possible. We
know the drill, but we are missing a very
effective added element – differential pressure.
We have all heard about, read about
and seen on TV what hospitals use for Covid-19
patients – isolation rooms. These make sure that
all of the contagious virus particles coming
from the sick individuals remain in the room.
The reason why they stay in the room is a
physical force called negative pressure.
Creating negative pressure is pretty simple. You
push more air out of the room than you take in.
In the case of an isolation room a fan is used
to force air out. That air goes through a HEPA
filter (for more information on HEPA filters
see: https://www.texairfilters.com/understanding-how-hepa-air-filters-remove-covid-19-from-the-air/)
and then out into the outside environment. A
properly designed and maintained isolation room
is very effective at containing dangerous
particles.
So how does this apply to the
Covid-19 patient confined to their home? Simple.
You make part of the home into a negatively
pressurized isolation room. Seal off a room
(preferably with a bathroom) in the house. Then
use some kind of a device to push air out of the
room. If you happen to have a fan with a HEPA
filter attached (called a negative air machine),
that would be great. That is the best option.
However, if you don’t have an $800 to $1,000
negative air machine at your disposal, you can
use a “Box Fan with a MERV 13 Filter.” The
device should be placed in a window or door
going to the outside. It needs to be pointed
out.
We have just done some testing on the
“Box Fan with a MERV 13 Filter” air cleaning
device and found that it was very effective at
removing particles in the 1 to 10 micron range.
Many experts believe that viable airborne
Covid-19 particles are in this range. This
article explains how to make a “Box Fan with a
MERV 13 Filter.” It is not difficult. It is not
expensive. But it works.
https://www.texairfilters.com/how-a-merv-13-air-filter-and-a-box-fan-can-help-fight-covid-19/
How well does the negative pressure work in a
house to control particles? I have experience
with that. My home was built in 1965. We have
been remodeling virtually every room – one room
at a time for the last 5 to 6 years. I know
about negative pressure. So I tell every
contractor that they must put up plastic
sheeting sealing off their work area. Then I
tell them to place a fan in a window somewhere
in this area – blowing out. The result? All of
the construction dust from cutting sheetrock,
sanding surfaces, sawing wood, etc. is confined
in the work space. None of this dust goes into
the rest of the house.
The same would happen with airborne Covid-19
particles. Seal the area and then push air to
the outside. Negatively pressurize the space.
The particles will either stay in the enclosed
space or be pulled into the filter. Most
importantly, they will not invade the rest of
the house and expose the other residents to
Covid-19.
But there is another consideration –
ventilation. Nature loves to have equilibrium.
For every force, there is a counter force. So
when you put that fan in the window to create
the negative pressure in the room of the
Covid-19 patient, the air in the balance of the
indoor environment will seek to enter that room.
It comes under and around the door, through
windows, between cracks, and around or through
anything used to create the “seal.” The
ventilation air is needed and will not stop the
effectiveness of the “isolation room” as long as
the negative pressure in the room exceeds the
pressure outside of the room.
One needs to measure the balance between the two
spaces. That is pretty easy to do with a strip
of tissue. Hold it up by an opening (around the
door for example) going into the negatively
pressurized room. The paper should go towards
the “isolation room.” Any particles containing
Covid-19 will either stay in the room or be
pulled outside by the fan in the window.
It helps to open a window or windows to supply
ventilation air. That ventilation air will help
to dilute any other airborne potentially
contagious particles, reduce CO2 levels and
provide for a safer indoor environment.
This same concept of containing Covid-19 should
be applied in other areas. Nursing homes,
college dorms, apartments, office buildings, and
any other space where it is possible to seal,
remove viral particles and create negative
pressure should adopt this procedure as soon as
possible. It is a proven, effective way to limit
exposure to Covid-19 – even for people who live
or work in an indoor environment where someone
has the disease and is contagious.
ProGuard Filters Combine Chemical and Particle
Filtration
All HVAC systems have some means of filtering
the air that they cool, heat, and recycle.
Mostly, these filters are designed to trap
particulates and prevent the spread of dust and
pollens. To mitigate the spread of pathogens,
additional filter technology is required.
ProGuard® HVAC Filters from ProMark
Associates,
are a quick and affordable way for building
owners and facility managers to improve indoor
air quality. In most cases, there is a ProGuard
Filter that is sized to be a direct replacement
for filters currently in use. For each size,
there are also different technologies available,
to respond to a particular situation.
ProGuard® Filters
use safe chemical and particulate filtering to
replace existing particulate-only filters. With
four times the gas-phase media of most standard
filters, ProGuard Filters use high-capacity
potassium permanganate on alumina to kill
pathogens. Other filters from ProMark can block
the recirculation of viruses with MERV 14
filtration. A key point is that these filter
upgrades provide up to 95% airflow so that the
overall resistance of the system will be only
slightly affected by the change.
Jeff Roseberry,
president of ProMark Associates, offered this
advice, “Conventional HVAC filters do not
sufficiently reduce the recirculation of
pathogens in the air due to their being smaller
than the filter media. Specialized technology is
needed to kill and or filter out the
contaminants.” Roseberry added, “Especially
during the pandemic, care should be taken when
changing or cleaning filter media, as it may
contain live pathogens. The technician should
wear eye, hand, and breathing protection, and
the old filter should be placed in a sealed bag
and disposed of.”
Their ProGuard® Filter is
a combination chemicals and particulate filter
to replace existing particulate-only filters. It
has four times the gas-phase media of
competitors standard filter. Each 2 inch filter
holds 200 grams/sq. ft. of activated carbon
compared to typical 50-gram filters. The 50:50
blend of ProGuard® 600 carbon
and ProGuard® 300 has
250 grams/ft2. Customers use ProGuard® Filters in
a variety of commercial settings to remove
corrosive and odorous gases. It is an ideal
solution for commercial buildings into which
dirty ventilation air enters and/or where the
inside air contains pollutants from cleaning
solutions, new carpeting, printers, carpet off
gassing, etc. Typical applications include
schools, indoor stadiums, casinos without
smoking, restaurants, hotels, and homes.
The PMA 90 replaces standard 5-inch-deep final
filters. It has twice the media content of
competitors’ filters, and half the resistance.
It is a true 95 percent filter, MERV 14, that
provides higher performance, lower pressure
drops, and longer life at a competitive price.
PMA90 is bidirectional, with safety-guard
screening on both up and downstream facing
areas. Both sizes have a single 1-inch header
with gasket for better sealing to prevent bypass
of particles. Dimensions (Nominal): PMA
90.4 – 24″ h x 24″ w x 5″ d PMA
90.2 – 12″ h x 24″ w x 5″ d.
Both Air Pollutants and Virus in Indian Air will
Penetrate Inefficient or Loose Masks
As a thick quilt of smog wrapped itself around
New Delhi on Thursday, signaling the start of
the fall
pollution season, doctors and scientists
warned that the deteriorating air quality could
make the city’s Covid-19 problems
even worse.
One of the most common symptoms of severe
coronavirus cases is breathing difficulty. And
doctors say that if the ambient air suddenly
becomes more toxic, as it does every year around
this time in northern India, then more people
who become infected by the virus might end up in
the hospital or die.
“If two people are shooting at the lungs, then
obviously the lungs will have more problems,”
said Arvind Kumar, a chest surgeon and founder
of the Lung
Care Foundation in New Delhi, a group
that raises awareness about respiratory
problems.
India is now struggling with two major health
challenges that are both assaulting the
respiratory system and peaking at the same time.
Coronavirus cases are spreading far and wide,
putting the country on track to have the largest
reported virus caseload in the coming weeks.
With 7.3 million reported infections, it is just
behind the United States’ 7.9 million. And each
day, India outpaces the United States in new
infections by around 10,000 more cases per day,
even as India’s death rate remains much lower.
A temporary coronavirus test center at a New
Delhi school last month.
Credit...Prakash
Singh/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
In the background is India’s vexing air
pollution, which shoots up in the fall and
winter. The rapid economic growth of the past
two decades — and along with it, increased
urbanization and congestion — has left Indian
cities horribly polluted.
Last year, India
was once again home to 14 of the 20 cities with
the most hazardous air globally, and
health experts have detailed how such conditions
can lead to brain
damage, respiratory problems and early
death.
In the fall, air temperatures and wind speeds
drop, condensing pollutants over India’s cities,
especially in the north. And farmers in the
surrounding rural areas burn the stalks and
refuse from their crop, sending up huge clouds
of black smoke that drift for miles.
Burning crop stubble on the outskirts of
Amritsar on Tuesday.
Credit...Raminder
Pal Singh/EPA, via Shutterstock
This year there have been five
times the number of farm refuse fires in
northern India as the same period last year,
and experts say it is a bad sign of what’s to
come.
The agricultural sector has been a rare bright
spot in an Indian
economy that has been shattered by the pandemic,
and pollution experts fear that more farming
will mean more burning.
“My gut is it’s going to be a bumper, bumper
harvest and a bumper, bumper combustion event,
probably the biggest of our lifetime,” said Jai
Dhar Gupta, an Ivy League-educated environmental
activist and entrepreneur.
“And now that you’ve got the combined impact of
a respiratory virus and respiratory
contaminants, every public health specialist is
holding their breath to see what happens,” Mr.
Gupta said.
“We’re just sitting ducks,” he added.
Doctors worry that as the air grows toxic,
people with the coronavirus are more likely to
become severely sick or die.
Doctors say long-term exposure to severely
polluted air can cause chronic lung
inflammation, which can leave people who are
exposed to the coronavirus more vulnerable. A
recent study from Italy found
a correlation between long-term exposure to
dirty air and an increase in excess mortality —
a measure of deaths above normal — from the
coronavirus.
“Pollution-afflicted areas will have a higher
incidence of Covid,” said Dr. Kumar, the chest
surgeon. “And once this population gets Covid,
they then have a higher chance of mortality.”
Up until now, people in New Delhi this year had
been spoiled in terms of breathable air. When a
coronavirus lockdown in the spring shut down
many industries and kept cars off the road, Delhi’s
skies turned a miraculous blue. It was
the cleanest air in decades, and at night,
residents felt as if they were being treated to
a star show. Constellations that hadn’t been
seen for years shone above the apartment blocks.
But that has become a dim memory. The sky is
back to its usual hazy brown, and the city now
smells of smoke.
The Delhi government is doing more this year to
fight pollution, including setting up a
war room to track pollution hot spots and
turning to anti-smog guns that blast mist into
the air to knock down the dust.
A worker operating an anti-smog gun at a
construction site in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Credit...Adnan
Abidi/Reuters
On Thursday, officials in Delhi, which is
controlled by a progressive opposition political
party, got locked into a blame game with
national politicians who are part of the
right-leaning administration of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi.
The Delhi officials blamed the Modi government
for not doing enough to stop crop burning in the
states that ring the capital. Modi
administration officials argued that crop
burning contributed only a minuscule amount to
overall air pollution, and they blamed the Delhi
government for not doing enough to control dust.
Many more people in India’s cities are donning
masks these days because of the pandemic, but
experts say this probably won’t help much.
Most people wear cloth masks or surgical-type
masks that don’t seal well and won’t stop
someone from inhaling small pollution particles
(or the virus, either).
McIlvaine believes that
this is the critical revelation. You need high
efficiency masks.
Pollution alerts whizzed around the city via
WhatsApp messages on Thursday.
“Delhi pollution level reported hazardous. 335,”
read one message, referring to an Air Quality
Index reading of 335, about six times as bad as
that of New York City.
The message continued: “Be Careful. Seniors
don’t go out. Wear mask.”
But points out
McIlvaine it has to be efficient and tight
fitting because both virus and air pollution
particles are in the same size range as perfume
and cigarette smoke.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/15/world/asia/india-covid-pollution.html
