Experts are giving a lot of thought to how we can control respiratory viruses in the long term. Viruses that you catch through the air like COVID-19.
We can do social distancing and we could use masks and we’ve got vaccination against viruses like the flu and covid-19. The other important thing we have got to pay attention to is ventilation. We have got to think hard about how we design apartments and offices and schools. We need to maximise spaces where we can have open windows and high ventilation rates so the virus does not hang around long enough to infect us.
Carbon dioxide monitors are going to be very important to assess ventilation through COVID and beyond COVID. HEPA filters will be important in environments where you can’t have a lot of ventilation. These will be important to make sure that the air is scrubbed of respiratory viruses.
Dr Norman Swan, Physician and Journalist