Sunday, August 09, 2020

Is it really safe to reopen NYC Schools

The article indicates the following two propositions are true as regards NYC schools:
1. School buildings are legally required to have enough air flowing through to fully replace the air every 20 minutes — or three full air exchanges per hour.
2. Open windows help as long as enough air is coming through, but the typical school can support only about one full air exchange per hour, Dr. Allen [director of the Healthy Buildings Program at Harvard University] said.
How can it be safe to reopen the schools since proper ventilation is necessary to prevent the spread of the virus? The state and city statistics cited in the article do not cover situations wherein thousands of children are concentrated in buildings without proper ventilation.
Once again the capitalist imperative to get back to normal so people can go back to work (not having to stay home with kids) and get the economic production of surplus value up and running from the exploitation of working people rules the day.
NYTIMES.COM
Transmission, even in New York City, is well below thresholds experts say are safe, but issues like adequate ventilation to combat aerosol spread of the virus remain.