A lot of talk this week has been about a study that points to fecal matter, which can carry SARS-COV2, being aerosolized when flushing a toilet. This would intern create additional airborne particles that could infect an occupant. Among the recommendations are: putting the toilet lid down before flushing, clean the toilet seat before using it, since floating virus particles could have settled on its surface, and washing hands carefully after flushing, since virus particles may be present on the flush button and door handle.
Read MoreYale to prepare for “residential/remote” model for Fall 2020
With a shared goal of providing excellence in education with an enriching campus experience, while doing so in a way that will protect the health of students and faculty, colleges and universities throughout the US are crafting unique “Hybrid” campus learning & living formats. Understanding that having the best campus “experience” is a critical component to student’s choice of where to go to complete their education, finding ways to minimize the risk of exposure while preserving some of the desired social experience is of great concern.
Read MoreShould you be worried about Legionella?
There is a lot of news on Legionella this week. The bad news is that the bacteria is throughout our environment and it’s pretty easy to develop a colony in building water systems. The good news is that by following some basic preventative maintenance and operational guidelines, most situations that propagate the bacteria can be mitigated.
Read MoreReopening America: Strategies for Safer Buildings
As part of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) “Reopening America: Strategies for Safer Buildings” initiative, a team of architects, public health experts, engineers, and facility managers worked to develop a three tool approach to minimize exposure to the virus in office and retail settings.
Read MoreGetting your HVAC Systems Running Again
Owners should begin running the system as if people were present several days to a week prior to re-occupying the space. If the facility has small unitary equipment, you may want to run only a few of the units at first, while utilizing fans and open doors to circulate air. The goal of this method is to slowly bring all the surfaces in the space to a normal occupied temperature, and more importantly, humidity level.
Read MoreReady, Set, Go – Open for Business (Moving from Red to Yellow status – June 5 for many)
As Pennsylvania continues to return to more active commerce and communion of people, please remember to follow the rules of your local authority and certainly continue prudent personal protective health hygiene practices. These practices are proven to work to protect you and your family.
Read MoreReopening schools in the fall is one big experiment
In reviewing the best plans on how to prepare for re-opening schools and campuses this year, the striking similarity is that there aren’t as many similarities in approaches as you’d expect.
The following article from Dr. Delaram J. Taghipour, MD, MPH, MBA, a Preventive Medicine resident at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, points out that the majority of the 780 colleges and universities tracked by the Chronicle of Higher Education (67%), plan to open for in-person classes this Fall. This is potentially good news, but with that comes an extraordinary amount of analysis and planning on how it should be done.
Read MoreThe Dangers of Re-Opening Vacated Buildings: Plumbing Systems & Legionella
Are you in the planning stages of re-opening your vacated buildings?Without proper opening procedures, your buildings could be at risk of spreading Legionella Bacteria.
Read MoreThe 3 Cs: Closed Spaces, Crowds & Close-Contact Settings
This post outlines the success of Japan’s mitigation actions because it is so applicable to our colleges and universities. Their successful plan first identified high infection clusters and common factors, and then they learned what mitigation practices worked and what didn’t. The highest contagions clusters of infections often proved to be overcrowded gatherings where people didn’t wear face covering and frequently cross contaminated with many people.
Read MoreColleges’ fall plans: Online classes? Hybrid? Early end to the semester? Options abound
This timely article from The Philadelphia Inquirer demonstrates the shared issue of all of State’s colleges and universities: How will our campuses look for this Fall’s semester, and, how what’s good for one may not work for the others
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