{"id":23830,"date":"2020-07-14T16:44:51","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T20:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=23830"},"modified":"2020-07-14T16:44:51","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T20:44:51","slug":"poor-ventilation-in-bu-classrooms-poses-covid-19-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2020\/07\/14\/poor-ventilation-in-bu-classrooms-poses-covid-19-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"Poor Ventilation in BU Classrooms Poses COVID-19 Risks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/858010351&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true&amp;visual=true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc; line-break: anywhere; word-break: normal; overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap; text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-weight: 100;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/wtbu\" title=\"wtbu\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener\">wtbu<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/wtbu\/poor-ventilation-in-bu-classrooms-poses-covid-19-risks\" title=\"Poor Ventilation in BU Classrooms Poses COVID-19 Risks\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" rel=\"noopener\">Poor Ventilation in BU Classrooms Poses COVID-19 Risks<\/a><\/div>\n<p><b>Poor Ventilation in BU Classrooms Poses COVID-19 Risks<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By Grace Ferguson<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some Boston University classrooms might have ventilation issues, which could lead to higher COVID-19 transmission. Data collected from CAS classrooms in 2018 showed carbon dioxide levels far above what authorities recommend.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The data comes from the research of one PhD student in BU\u2019s Earth and Environment program. Sarabeth Buckley collected the carbon dioxide readings, and she defended her dissertation last fall. Now, she\u2019s doing postdoctoral research at Cambridge University.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI wasn\u2019t expecting the numbers to get as high as they did,\u201d Buckley said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Massachusetts Department of Public Health recommends that indoor carbon dioxide levels stay below 800 parts per million, but in the classrooms Buckley studied, the average carbon dioxide levels exceeded 1000 parts per million.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Readings above 2000 parts per million in these classrooms were not uncommon, and some classrooms even peaked above 3000 parts per million\u2014almost four times what the health department recommends.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">High carbon dioxide levels can lead to cognition issues and other health problems, but more importantly, they are an indicator for bad ventilation. The coronavirus travels through droplets in the air, so air flow could affect virus transmission. The CDC recommends increasing ventilation in workplaces, schools, and commercial establishments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt really seems like ventilation is an important piece that isn\u2019t really being looked at,\u201d Buckley said, \u201cand could make the campus much safer if it was improved and brought to a higher standard\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Buckley\u2019s research actually started with plants, rather than people. When she collected the data, she was hoping to use the carbon dioxide to fertilize rooftop gardens.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Buckley knew her research could be important from a public health perspective too. That\u2019s why she teamed up with Kate Connolly, a PhD student who studies indoor air quality in BU\u2019s School of Public Health.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s very exciting to see indoor air quality get some attention, because I think about it a lot, of course, and it is one of my main research interests,\u201d Connolly said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The two are now working on a paper that combines their disciplines. Their work still centers on using carbon dioxide for rooftop gardens, but Connolly can see how their research is now more relevant during the pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cYes, you\u2019re sharing surfaces; yes, [you\u2019re having] close contact; but you\u2019re also sharing the air and that\u2019s always been a potential way to transmit this virus,\u201d Connolly said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BU plans to adjust its ventilation systems as it brings students back to campus this fall. According to the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cpo\/return-to-campus\/building-operations\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Campus Planning and Operations website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, BU will circulate more outdoor air into buildings when possible. The university will also inspect its systems and make sure they\u2019re running for longer periods of time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In an email, BU Spokesman Colin Riley said BU is going over every ventilation system as it prepares for fall, and the university has hired outside experts to help.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cDuring this extraordinary time the administration is working to ensure it has put in place the necessary and appropriate public health precautions for a safe return to campus,\u201d Riley wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Buckley said she has shown her research to CAS facilities management, and they have been responsive. WTBU could not reach them for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>wtbu \u00b7 Poor Ventilation in BU Classrooms Poses COVID-19 Risks Poor Ventilation in BU Classrooms Poses COVID-19 Risks By Grace Ferguson Some Boston University classrooms might have ventilation issues, which could lead to higher COVID-19 transmission. Data collected from CAS classrooms in 2018 showed carbon dioxide levels far above what authorities recommend. The data comes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17683,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1597,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23830"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17683"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23830"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23831,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23830\/revisions\/23831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}