Sequentially Cleaner Space Progression

Suppliers of HHS Mask Purchases for Community Health Centers Not Yet Revealed

COVID Can Survive on Fabric for 72 Hours

CDC Study Shows Double Mask With Tight Fit can be 95% Effective

High School In York PA Starts on $100 Million Upgrade

New York Office Buildings will Incorporate Healthier Designs in the Future

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Sequentially Cleaner Space Progression

The coronavirus, cleanroom, and indoor air technologies have merged to create what could be labeled The Sequentially Cleaner Space Progression. It started in the cleanroom industry where instead of one large Class 10 cleanroom you now have a Class 1 cleanroom within a Class 10,000 Restricted Access Barrier System (RABS) within a Class 100,000 cleanroom. The pharmaceutical manufacturer owning this facility has probably surrounded it with space that because of COVID has been  upgraded to MERV 13 filters. The office workers are also wearing masks. 

So the building air will be relatively clean compared to the outside air. The average outside air is estimated as ISO 9 at 1,000,000 particles 0.5 microns and larger per cubic foot.

Most people will have difficulty assimilating the fact that they breathe in 1 million particles in every cubic foot of air inhaled.   This translates into 7.5 million particles per minute  for the average person 

Clean Air Technology, Inc. 41105 Capital Drive, Canton, MI 48187 USA | Toll Free: 800.459.6320 Fax: 734.459.9437   |   Email: 

 

This is not the air quality you find in Beijing or Mumbai or in California in the wildfire season. In these locations  people are inhaling  as much as 100 million particles per minute.  they rely on the protection of masks while outside and on building HVAC and high efficiency air filters when inside.

Sequentially Cleaner Space Progression

 

The coronavirus pandemic will end but building owners are now well aware of the benefits of healthy air. There is a major campaign involving celebrities preaching healthy air for buildings. The result is likely to be continuing use and evolution of a Sequentially Cleaner Space Progression.

 

Suppliers of HHS Mask Purchases for Community Health Centers Not Yet Revealed

The new mask purchase is far less than the one back in May. We know that the masks will be relatively efficient and washable. They will be packed two per bag. The cost will roughly be $3 per mask and the volume will be 25 million masks.  This will be entirely different from the one last May. But here are the details on this earlier purchase.

The Department of Health and Human Services is buying over half a billion dollars’ worth of cloth face coverings for critical workers and federal agencies.

The masks were purchased to “mitigate” the transmission of Covid-19 as stay-at-home orders are lifted, according to the contracts, which were awarded May 8.

Contracts were awarded to HanesBrands Inc. for $322 million; San Mar Corp. for $217 million; Parkdale Advanced Materials Inc. for $60 million; Beverly Knits Inc. for $43 million; America Knits for $1.68 million; and American Giant for $1.27 million.

The HHS, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure and Security Agency (CISA) are distributing up to 650 million cloth face coverings to infrastructure workers, first responders, and food producers, an HHS spokesperson said in a statement.

The federal government has distributed 90 million face coverings so far, the HHS spokesperson said. FEMA and the HHS are also providing face coverings to federal agencies, the spokesperson added.

Distribution is based on the CISA’s analysis of priority infrastructure sectors, the HHS spokesperson said.

Hanes went on to generate  mask revenue of $1 billion in 2020. However, in February it announced that it would exit the mask business.

 

COVID Can Survive on Fabric for 72 Hours

A new study has found that the novel coronavirus can survive on some forms of fabric and transmit to other surfaces for up to 72 hours in a laboratory setting.

The study, conducted by researchers at the De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester, U.K., reported that traces of the coronavirus can remain infectious on polyester, polycotton, and 100 per cent cotton for up to three days.

"When the pandemic first started, there was very little understanding of how long coronavirus could survive on textiles," lead researchers and DMU microbiologist Dr. Katie Laird said in a press release.

To find this out, researchers added droplets of a model coronavirus called HCoV-OC43, which they reported has a "very similar structure and survival pattern" to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to the three types of fabric.

The researchers then monitored the virus on each material for 72 hours in a lab-controlled setting.

The study, which is currently under peer-review, reported that polyester posed the highest risk for transmission of the virus, with infectious particles still present on the fabric after three days.

With 100 per cent cotton fabric, researchers reported that the virus lasted for 24 hours while it only survived for six hours on polycotton.

Researchers also evaluated the "most reliable wash method" for removing the virus on these materials.

Using 100 percent cotton, the researchers conducted multiple tests using different water temperatures and wash methods, including domestic washing machines, industrial washing machines, hospital washing machines, and an ozone or highly reactive gas wash system.

The study found that the “agitation and dilution effect of the water” in all of these washing machines was enough to remove the virus.

However, researchers noted that when the textiles were soiled with an artificial saliva containing the virus, mimicking the risk of spread from an infected person’s mouth, they reported that traces of the virus survived after going through a domestic washing machine.

In this case, the study said it was only when researchers added a detergent and increased the water temperature that the virus was "completely eliminated."

According to the study, the virus was stable in water up to 60 C, but became inactivated at 67 C.

The researchers also evaluated whether the fabrics posed a cross-contamination risk during washing.

The team evaluated this by placing clean clothes in the same wash as uniforms contaminated with the virus. They found that "all wash systems" removed the virus and there was "no risk of the other items being contaminated."

Despite this, Laird said the contaminated clothes still pose a threat to health-care workers prior to being washed by transferring to other surfaces if they are brought home.

"While we can see from the research that washing these materials at a high temperature, even in a domestic washing machine, does remove the virus, it does not eliminate the risk of the contaminated clothing leaving traces of coronavirus on other surfaces in the home or car before they are washed," Laird said in the release.

In response, she has recommended to the U.K. government that health-care staff not take their uniforms home and instead have them laundered in hospitals or by an industrial laundry.

"These wash methods are regulated and nurses and health-care workers do not have to worry about potentially taking the virus home," Laird said.

 

CDC Study Shows Double Mask With Tight Fit can be 95% Effective

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study last month that indicates wearing a fitted cloth mask over a medical procedure mask is proven to offer more protection against the coronavirus.

During lab testing, the CDC simulated a person coughing by producing aerosols from a mouthpiece. The experiment showed that double-masking blocked 85.4% of cough particles, while being proven to be 95% effective when both parties are double-masked.

As for wearing a single mask, the study showed that a cloth mask alone blocked 51.4% of cough particles, while a medical procedure mask blocked 56.1% of cough particles.

Not all face masks should be layered though. The CDC says layering N95 and KN95 masks with other kinds of masks would restrict airflow and cause carbon dioxide to build up, according to a report by The Seattle Times.

N95 and KN95 masks both filter out at least 95% of particles in the air when worn alone, the report says. The main difference between the two are KN95 masks are made in China and are not tested by The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which is located in the United States.

 

High School In York PA Starts on $100 Million Upgrade

Northeastern High School in York County is about to take a big leap from the 1950s right into the 21st Century.

Phase 1 of a three-part renovation project that is estimated to cost close to $100 million will begin in earnest on June 8, according to high school principal Matt Gay. The school board approved the first phase and accepted bids at a recent meeting.

Lobar, Inc. will handle the bulk of the first phase, winning the general construction and electrical contracts for a total of just over $21 million. Frey-Lutz Corp. won the HVAC contract for $5.2 million, Jay R. Reynolds won the plumbing contract for just under $1.6 million, and SA Comunale won the fire protection contract for $342,195.

Geller and Gay said this project has been years in the making. Officials looked at a new build vs. two types of renovations before deciding this three-phase project was the best way to go. The other renovation plan added a second floor to the existing building, which opened in 1956.

The biggest obstacle against a new building was land. A new high school wouldn’t fit on the current property, so the district would have had to purchase a plot of land.

Approximately 30 classrooms will undergo renovations, including focused lighting with dimmer switches. Science rooms will be enlarged and the plumbing improved.

Five external classrooms will be used while the building's six science rooms are renovated. They are specifically for teaching science, so they are larger and are equipped differently than regular modular classrooms.

Contractors will install sub levels to house the school’s new HVAC system that will replace the two systems that now heat and cool the high school.

The high school is the last of the district’s eight schools to be renovated or replaced.

Work is expected to be completed on the first phase in August, 2022. The plan is to wait at least one year before starting the second phase.

Gay said the main reason for this is so it can be funded as a separate project instead of tying into the first phase.

“And a different board could say no, and not do the rest of it,” Gay said. “This project will solve some of the most immediate needs. We had to get the mechanicals piece done before we could do anything else.”

New York Office Buildings will Incorporate Healthier Designs in the Future

“The air in here is healthier than the air you breathe on the sidewalk,’’ said Douglas Durst, chairman of the Durst Organization, one of New York’s most active builders and owners. “I always find that I’m much more alert inside the building than I am outside.”

Durst has, for decades, been at the forefront of the green movement in real estate. It’s not virtue signaling but, instead, solid business sense, he has said. Cleaner air attracts a better class of tenants willing to pay higher rents for Durst buildings than the less progressive buildings down the street.

The company’s 4 Times Square, also known as One Five One on 42nd Street, helped pioneer Times Square’s transformation in the 1990s from a seedy, pornography-laden zone to a Dignified tourist mecca. It did that, in part, with a sensory system called Aircuity that constantly monitors the air inside a building and adjusts the intake if too much of a certain substance, such as carbon monoxide, turns up.

Durst went on to add a similar system at 1 Bryant Park, a.k.a. the Bank of America Tower. One Bryant “went even further,” Durst said. “We further filtered the outside air. This is something we recognized was important way before the current crisis.”

Air systems start with outside air and also recirculate indoor air, said Kathleen Owen, president of Cary, N.C.-based Owen Air Filtration Consulting and a member of ASHRAE. Then, the advanced ones monitor the outdoor air to make sure it’s not bringing in noxious gases and impurities; but Owens said that these more advanced ones are not very common.

“Usually in commercial buildings, there are temp sensors that control when the HVAC runs,” she said, referencing the heaters and air-conditioners that keep buildings comfortable. “Some buildings have [air quality] sensors, but it is not the norm.”

There is a “growing market of companies” making retrofits to improve indoor air, said Joel Wheatley, senior director of engineering and maintenance for C&W Services, the facilities services arm of the commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.

At 10 Grand Central at 155 East 44th Street, a fairly typical Midtown office building, the air is zapped by ultraviolet rays, goes through a bipolar ionization system, and is finally sieved through a MERV 13 filter.

Perhaps, the most remarkable thing about 10 Grand Central is its tenant roster, which includes Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s production company and international news agency Agence France-Presse. It also won a Pinnacle Award for renovated building of the year from the New York chapter of the Building Owners and Managers Association.

The U.S. Green Building Council, the organization behind the LEED environmental ratings for buildings, recommended using MERV 13 or 14 filters, according to an article on the association’s website. A properly designed air quality system will filter out the coronavirus and, therefore, be critical to the reopening of buildings, including schools, the council said.

Workers in 10 Grand Central can track the air quality on little read-out screens posted throughout the building. While a reporter was there, the number on the screen ranged from 5 to 12, all acceptable ranges. If it got to 100, the building’s engineer said, that would be trouble. A male wearing strong cologne has been known to make the reading jump. There is a control room, too, for controlling the air quality, but it is off-site, said Craig Deitelzweig, president and CEO of Marx Realty & Improvement Co., the principal owner and operator of the building.

One of the innovations used at 10 Grand Central is simply having windows that open and close, something that’s been hard to find in the increasingly glassy towers that have been going up since the 1950s.

When the meters show the air is edging toward something less than optimum, one thing Marx does is open windows and doors to the outside. “There’s nothing like fresh air,” Deitelzweig said. “That’s why outdoor venues were allowed to open before inside ones.”

This past week, occupancy, in terms of people in 10 Grand Central, was at about 32 percent, he said, a high-water mark for the crisis. Lately, the percentage has been in the 20s, he said.

Air quality is also a top selling point for, perhaps, the most prominent — and, certainly, the largest — new commercial real estate development in America: Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s Far West Side, which includes several million square feet (and counting) of office space.

“We built Hudson Yards to be as future-proof as possible, which included having best-in-class, commercial-grade MERV filters and multiple points for fresh air intake offering the highest-quality air, with 30 percent more fresh air than a typical office,” Related Companies, Hudson Yards’ co-developer and current operator, said in a statement.

The focus on fresh air indoors turned out to be prescient, the company said.

“Pre-pandemic, air quality wasn’t top of mind for many of our office tenants, but today, it is something their employees are increasingly asking about and a key factor in making people feel comfortable returning to their offices,” Related said.

Cushman & Wakefield’s Wheatley said that much of this technology is not new. In fact, ultraviolet technology, as a means to filter out air impurities, goes back more than 100 years.

“For particles that are too small to be filtered, even by a MERV 13, they’ll go right through the filters and come back out,” Wheatley said. “So the objective is to make those particles larger.”

Manufacturers say that bipolar ionization can deactivate viruses, Owen, the filtration consultant, said.

There could be a “trade-off,” however, Wheatley said. All these techniques to clean the air take energy and could raise costs, he said.

Knowledge on how to employ these technologies continues to evolve. ASHRAE is planning an update in the next few weeks on the effect of ultraviolet on the virus. It is believed that the technique has some positive effect, but just how much and how to employ it won’t be known until the ASHRAE study is published, Wheatley said.

“Even if it’s not this pandemic, it may be the next, but I think overall, people are going to have a better understanding of air quality facilities,” Wheatley said. “I don’t think we’ll ever go back to the standards of [running] the air through the lowest filter and [pushing] it out and go breathe it. There will be a more savvy understanding of how things work.”

Until then, there are the government guidelines as well.

Owen, for her part, cautioned about relying on machines to protect against COVID. She instead advised continuing to wear a mask and to practice social distancing till the authorities say it’s safe to stop.