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IPFS News Link • Science, Medicine and Technology

Paging Dr. Hamblin: Can AC Spread the Coronavirus?

• The Atlantic

Dear Dr. Hamblin,

As an Atlantic reporter covering the White House, I'll soon be traveling to cover things like Trump rallies. Am I at any risk of contracting the virus if I stay at a hotel? Could the virus be passed through the hotel's HVAC system?   

Peter Nicholas

Washington, D.C.

The last thing anyone wants to do after a long day of vigilant mask wearing is worry that, even alone in the solace of your room in some Comfort Inn, it's not safe to take off your mask. But although building ventilation hasn't gotten a lot of attention during this pandemic, it could pose problems.

Unlike when you open a window and allow air to pass through, air-conditioning recirculates a lot of the same air inside a building. Though the exact risks are still unknown, this has the potential to create a virus-laden stew in offices and, yes, hotels. Earlier this month, two researchers from Harvard Medical School argued in JAMA that, beyond washing hands and wearing masks, "air disinfection" has been a largely missing element of the strategy to prevent coronavirus transmission. The issue could be especially important as we head into summer: Hotter temperatures will drive people indoors just as many places are reopening and we're supposed to go about our "normal life."

The airborne spread of the coronavirus has been well documented. Famously, outbreaks have emerged from choir practices and other indoor gatherings, with infection rates so uniquely high that it's unlikely everyone got infected by touching the same surface. Over a long period in an enclosed space, it seems, singing can spew virus into the air until it accumulates to the point of danger for people who are well over six feet away.

Once a virus is hanging in the air—and we know that the coronavirus can linger for hours—it will travel with air currents. One ominous study of a restaurant in Guangzhou, China, documented how air-conditioning appeared to spread the virus between tables at opposite sides of the room. The issue wasn't that the virus was traveling through the air-conditioning unit, but that it was getting pushed around the room by the stream of air. The takeaway is that while airflow is good when it's coming from open windows, it could make things worse when it's coming from an AC unit that's blowing air around a closed room. Coughing in a well-ventilated room is sort of like peeing in a river as opposed to a hot tub: Ideally you wouldn't do either, but one is definitely worse.


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