Balancing Clean Air and Reopening Amid New COVID-19 Indoor Air Guidelines

With guidelines from the commercial building industry, US EPA Energy Star program, and ASHRAE —

In the aftermath of sweeping stay-at-home orders and a several-months shutdown of many businesses, life in a post-COVID world is going through a new normal — a different way of doing things than were done in the past. With a wide range of challenges facing commercial building owners as a result of the coronavirus, the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) and related industries are no exception.

COVID-19 has shined a spotlight on indoor air quality and ventilation. It seems clear that business owners, employees, and customers with chronic respiratory illnesses like asthma, COPD, and emphysema all benefit from improved indoor air quality and whole building ventilation. This is true even outside of the flu and respiratory illness season.

Short and long-term exposure to any poor air quality can not only cause exacerbations of chronic respiratory illness and reduce lung function, these same factors have been associated with increased severity of COVID-19 pneumonia and increased risk of contracting airborne illnesses in people both with and people WITHOUT chronic respiratory illnesses. 

As a result of these factors relating to COVID concerns, experts from the commercial building industry, US EPA Energy Star program, and American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) met recently to discuss how to best operate HVAC and related systems, and to offer recommendations on Building HVAC Operations amid COVID-19. 

Leading takeaways from the nearly 3-hour program and Q&A included:

Stressing the necessity of new cleaning protocols and low-cost building upgrades

Property management experts have already instituted a wide range of changes to their buildings, including:

1. Posting signage and messaging with CDC guidelines in common areas, break rooms, bathrooms, and conference rooms.
2. Defining travel patterns within the tenants’ space.
3. Limiting conference room capacity.
4. Bringing in additional outside air and replacing filters with more efficient MERV 13 filters.
5. Placing greater emphasis on cleaning high-touch surfaces including doorknobs and elevator buttons.
6. Providing disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer stations in lobbies.

Observing that business owners have taken it upon themselves to:

1. Devise new seating arrangements.
2. Install shields between tables that face each other.
3. Require employees and customers to check their temperature upon arrival.
4. Install automated fixtures in restrooms.

While emphasizing it’s still necessary to prepare buildings for coming standards:

Some essential tips from ASHRAE to prepare buildings for occupancy re-entry:

1. Flush the air and water systems.
2. Assess air filtration systems.
3. Ensure that HVAC systems undergo maintenance, cleaning and are operating normally.
4. Install a SMART whole building ventilation controller system.

Various chemicals may abound within a business. These range from employee and customer personal care products such as cosmetics, perfume and hair care products, to sources of fossil fuel heat. In addition, many cleaning agents, radon, humidity, and mold can add to respiratory burdens. 

Experts recommend using simple measures to decrease exposure to air pollutants such as:

• Cleaning.
• Not allowing smoking.
• Using dehumidifiers in high-humidity areas.
• Installing carbon monoxide and radon monitors.
• Ensuring adequate ventilation through air exchange options.