The Clean Air In Buildings Challenge

(Stat News, March 18th, 2022) The White House announcement on Thursday that it is elevating “clean air in buildings” as a key pillar in the national Covid-19 response is nothing short of a landmark shift in the response.

How so? The country has made enormous gains in its Covid fight along several axes — vaccines and boosters, rapid tests and treatments, and the recent release of N95 masks to the public. But there was one element that was still lacking more than two years into the pandemic: ventilation and filtration. That has now changed.

The White House had been on something of a listening and engagement tour on this topic, reaching out to many experts (including me) to gather evidence on why better buildings were key, and what should be done to elevate this topic. The listening paid off because its Clean Air in Buildings Challenge is excellent.