Coronavirus
Technology Solutions
Need for Masks Accelerates with COVID Rise
Thousands of Students Already Quarantining
Boosters Will Not End the Pandemic, Expert Says
Mask Mandate for Travelers Extended to January
18
HVAC Contractors Believe That Some Recent Trends
Will Be Permanent
99% Efficient Tight Sealing Breathable Mask
Developed From MIT Spin Off
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Need for Masks Accelerates with COVID Rise
Cases of Covid-19 among children have steadily
increased since the beginning of July, according
to a report from the American Academy of
Pediatrics. And an expert says this rise is just
the start of what is to come.
"This is happening before school starts. Schools
are opening now," said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of
the National School of Tropical Medicine
at Baylor College of Medicine. "So, Houston
Independent school district opens August 23,
that's going to be a huge accelerant. This is
just the beginning, unfortunately," he
told CNN's Jake Tapper.
More than 121,000 child Covid-19 cases were
reported last week, which the AAP called "a
continuing substantial increase."
Health experts had hoped to get a critical
threshold of the population vaccinated against
Covid-19 in time to get spread under control for
the new school year, but only 50.9% of the
population is fully vaccinated and cases are
once again on the rise. And with the more
transmissible Delta variant accounting now for
nearly 99% of cases in the US, the situation is
growing particularly dangerous for children,
experts said. They have advocated for children
to wear masks in school, but some governors have
attempted to ban such requirements.
Hotez said the US is now at a "screaming level
of virus transmission," adding that to really
interrupt the spread, 80 to 85% of the
population will need to be vaccinated.
"We know from past epidemics what that means,
the best way to do this is to vaccinate your way
out of it in collaboration with masks," Hotez
said. "We can't be either, or -- the only way we
are going to defeat this virus is with both."
Thousands of Students Already Quarantining
Many schools that have gone back to campus are
already seeing the impact of the virus' spread.
Students returned to the New Orleans Public
School District on August 12 and are required to
wear masks in school facilities, according to
the district.
Mask mandates have caused
tension in Florida as
some schools press to implement them but are
going up against Gov. Ron DeSantis' ban against
such requirements.
Among the state's 15 largest school districts,
at least 3,143 students and 1,371 employees have
tested positive for Covid-19 and at least
another 11,416 students and staff members have
been quarantined or isolated due to Covid-19.
The tallies do not include any cases from the
two biggest school districts in Florida --
Miami-Dade and Broward -- which have not yet
returned to school. Broward County Schools begin
in-person learning on Wednesday and Miami-Dade
begins on August 23.
On Tuesday, Florida's State Board of Education
voted unanimously to recommend investigations
into the Broward and Alachua districts over
their requirement for mask-wearing in school.
In Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey said the state would
use federal Covid relief money to increase the
funding available to public school districts
only if they're open for in-person learning and
don't require children to wear masks.
A handful of Arizona districts have imposed mask
mandates despite the state law that prohibits
them, arguing that the ban cannot go into
effect until
mid-September at
the earliest, making their current mandates
legal.
As Cases Spread, Crowding in Hospitals Has Been
on the Rise as Well
Florida currently has 16,521 individuals
hospitalized with Covid-19, making up 36.1% of
all patients in Florida hospitals, according to
an update released by the Florida Hospital
Association on Tuesday.
"There can be no question that many Florida
hospitals are stretched to their absolute
limits," said Mary C. Mayhew, President and CEO,
of the association.
In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear said that by the
end of the week, "we expect to have more
Kentuckians in the hospital battling Covid than
at any point in this pandemic."
He added: "The situation is serious and
alarming, and we are rapidly approaching
critical."
States to the south of Kentucky are quickly
running out of beds and calling hospitals in the
state asking to transfer ICU-level care
patients, Kentucky's Public Health Department
Commissioner Dr. Steven Stack said.
"This will cascade and it will get worse," Stack
said.
Boosters Will Not End the Pandemic, Expert Says
Health experts have been discussing the
possibility of a booster dose to increase
protection -- although there is no consensus
about when it will be needed.
The Biden administration discussed data
Wednesday showing that Covid-19 vaccine boosters
may be needed for the general population around
eight months after becoming fully vaccinated.
The CDC said Tuesday that the need for and
timing has not yet been determined. And the FDA,
in response to CNN, said that agencies are
engaged in a rigorous process to consider when
boosters might be necessary.
"This process takes into account laboratory
data, clinical trial data, and cohort data --
which can include data from specific
pharmaceutical companies, but does not rely on
those data exclusively," spokesperson Abigail
Capobianco said. "We continue to review any new
data as it becomes available and will keep the
public informed."
Offit told CNN the process was frustrating. "You
would like to think that the data would come
first and then the recommendation would come
second, because right now, we're all guessing
what's going on."
Scott Hensley, an immunologist at the University
of Pennsylvania, told CNN he is skeptical of the
importance of boosters at this point in the
pandemic.
"If you think a third dose of the vaccine is
going to end the pandemic, then you are kidding
yourself," he told CNN. "The way to end this
pandemic is to get the vaccine distributed
across the globe."
Andy Slavitt, the former White House Covid-19
adviser, said Tuesday it will make an enormous
difference if most of the world can be
vaccinated in the first part of 2022.
"The way we stop the proliferation of this virus
is by vaccinating not just the unvaccinated in
the US, but the unvaccinated around the globe,"
he said.
Mask Mandate for Travelers Extended to January
18
President Joe
Biden's administration confirmed late on Tuesday
it plans to extend requirements for travelers to
wear masks on airplanes, trains and buses and at
airports and train stations through Jan. 18 to
address ongoing COVID-19 risks.
Major U.S. airlines
were informed of the planned extension on a call
with TSA and Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday, four people briefed
on the matter said.
The move comes as
U.S. airlines are grappling with whether to
require employees to be vaccinated, while Canada
said last week it
plans to require all airline passengers to be
vaccinated.
On Friday, Homeland
Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told CNN
there was no discussion "at this time" about
requiring vaccines for domestic airline
passengers.
Association of
Flight Attendants-CWA President Sara Nelson said
the TSA mask mandate extension "will help
tremendously to keep passengers and aviation
workers safe."
The current CDC order, which has been in place
since soon after Biden took office in January,
requires the use of face masks on nearly all
forms of public transportation.
It requires face masks to be worn by all
travelers on airplanes, ships, trains, subways,
buses, taxis and ride-shares and at
transportation hubs such as airports, bus or
ferry terminals, train and subway stations, and
seaports.
The requirements have been the source of some
friction, especially aboard U.S. airlines, where
some travelers have refused to wear masks. The
Federal Aviation Administration, which has
instituted a "zero tolerance" enforcement effort
on unruly passengers, said on Tuesday that since
Jan. 1 it has received reports from airlines of
2,867 passengers refusing to wear masks.
TSA last month told Congress that since the
start of the COVID-19 pandemic there have been
over 85 physical assaults on TSA officers.
In some U.S. states, transportation hubs are
among the only places where masks are still
required. The CDC reversed course on July 27 and
said fully vaccinated Americans should go back
to wearing masks in all indoor public places in
regions where the coronavirus is spreading
rapidly. The CDC recommendation currently
applies to about 94% of U.S. counties.
The CDC on Tuesday cited the Delta variant's
transmissibility in a statement explaining the
mask mandate. "Wearing a well-fitting mask that
covers your nose and mouth is a way to prevent
germs from spreading between yourself and other
people," it said.
A group of Republican lawmakers in July
introduced legislation to prohibit mask mandates
for public transport, and other Republicans want
the CDC to exempt fully vaccinated Americans
from the requirements.
The CDC mask order has no expiration date. The
agency in June made a minor tweak to its rules,
saying it would no longer require travelers to
wear masks in outdoor transit hubs and in
outdoor spaces on ferries and buses.
Last month, the CDC official who signed the mask
order, Marty Cetron, told Reuters the transit
mask mandates have been effective - and noted
that children 11 and under cannot yet be
vaccinated.
"Masks are really powerful and we should make
sure they're part of our arsenal," Cetron said.
"The truth is that the unvaccinated portion
that's out there is extremely vulnerable."
United Airlines said earlier this month it will
require its 67,000 U.S. employees to get
vaccinated by Oct. 25.
The Biden administration, citing the highly
transmissible Delta variant and rising daily
COVID-19 cases, has refused to lift any
international travel restrictions that bar most
non-U.S. citizens from the United States.
HVAC Contractors Believe That Some Recent Trends
Will Be Permanent
Mike Star, president, Lane Associates spoke on
behalf of Mechanical Contractors Association of
America (MCAA), explaining that people’s concept
of buildings has shifted. While ideas like
healthy buildings (enhanced IAQ via filtration,
ventilation, and temperature/humidity
tolerances) have existed for decades, COVID-19
threw a spotlight on the need to incorporate
systems into buildings that will preserve
health.
The concept of a high-performance building has
also evolved. The term is typically used in
relation to keep buildings energy efficient and
with a small carbon footprint, but it has grown
to include enhancing the health of a given
space.
“As long as buildings need to be comfortable,
we’re going to have work to do,” said Star.
“Indoor air quality, ventilation, and occupancy
schedules are going to be looked at very
closely.”
The pandemic also shed light on specific sectors
of infrastructure that need HVAC upgrades,
according to Barton James, president and CEO of
ACCA (Air Conditioning Contractors of America).
This was especially true for the state of HVAC
in America’s schools. ACCA released a report of
HVAC in the nation’s schools during the
pandemic, revealing the immense need for
upgraded HVAC systems. Nearly $100 billion from
the federal government was allocated for schools
to keep students safe.
All of this has led to the HVAC industry being
perceived increasingly as belonging in the topic
of keeping people healthy, and not as simply one
of the necessary systems for building operation.
“Air quality has definitely become a recent
focus and put HVAC in a spotlight, with
government officials specifically addressing
ventilation rates and filtration quality,” said
Star. “There will definitely be some relaxing of
these ideas, but some will likely stick around.”
“In our company, we're no longer referring to
[digital meetings] as virtual meetings,”
Danielson said. “When you think about virtual
reality, you think about altered reality that
isn’t truly real. But these are not virtual
meetings — these are real meetings, and we get
real stuff done. And we have real connections
with human beings.”
When serving homeowners, contractors can utilize
digital meetings to help with initial
consultations, follow-ups, or relieving
discomfort about technicians coming to a home
when the owner isn’t personally there. They may
even take the place of phone calls, as companies
could use them to connect with customers after
appointments.
Colleen Keyworth, vice president Women in HVACR
and sales and marketing director, Online Access
Inc., sees video meetings becoming more of a
staple. Women in HVACR moved to weekly meetings
with its members, and Keyworth said that she has
seen a growth in people’s comfort with being on
camera. Plus, contractors and organizations were
able to have some time to work on connections
and networking that had occurred at pre-pandemic
events or at virtual events.
The pandemic has also revealed the importance of
keeping products affordable, especially in a
time where supply chain disruptions have led to
widespread price increases on the manufacturer
side. Solutions such as financing can help
customers afford the system they want.
“If contractors aren’t offering affordability
options, the end user is going to end up buying
the cheapest product that they can afford,”
Danielson said. “The contractor will lose out in
that case, and the homeowner will lose out as
well, because they're not getting the product
they wanted. They simply got the product that
they could afford.”
One of contractors’ first major victories in the
pandemic was being deemed an essential business
by the government, which emphasized the critical
role HVAC plays in keeping people both
comfortable and safe, especially in regards to
keeping critical facilities (such as hospitals)
successfully cooling patients and ventilating
pure air. ACCA’s James explained that this did
bring up an interesting dynamic, as technicians
were deemed critical and entering into people’s
homes, but this caused contractors to wrestle
with their liability should that technician
contract COVID-19 on the job.
One of the largest challenges going forward,
which is little surprise to those involved in
the skilled trades, is the labor shortage. For
companies that have seen revenues drop and
perhaps even needed to lay off employees, the
problem of hiring quality talent grows even
more.
“As employees, patients, students, and others
now return to the built environments, they are
demanding proof the spaces are safe,” said Star.
“This is contributing to the already tight labor
market. Too few techs are standing on the
sidelines waiting for projects, and even fewer
are entering the trades.”
According to Keyworth, Women in HVACR has used
the past year to work on bringing up more
scholarships and recruitment opportunities for
the industry, creating and releasing tools such
as slideshow presentations and videos to help
with hiring.
“There’s not enough online stuff to show the
younger generation what opportunities we have,
whether that be using social media of TikTok
videos,” Keyworth said. “We’re trying to address
that issue with our organization and provide
materials to people who don’t have the ability
to get them currently.
The industry’s organizations have worked hard
the
past year to equip contractors with the skills
and tools needed to adapt, and even thrive, in a
challenging, shifting market. And the
organizations plan to keep doing this.
“Simply put, our top priority is contractor
success, and we’ll embrace both time-tested and
brand new strategies to help them achieve it,”
said Matulich.
MCAA views its role as delivering vital
information to its membership via best practice
peer panel webinars, timely presentation series
with ideas/success stories for business
management and organizing speakers from various
sectors of the HVAC industry (manufacturers,
real estate experts, etc.) to inform their
membership. They plan to continue informing
their membership going forward.
James said that ACCA has seen its highest
membership than ever before. The group is
working to improve continuing education in the
HVAC industry, and to attract people to the HVAC
in an effort to overcome workforce challenges.
In addition, ACCA is continually working on
keeping its standards up-to-date.
ACCA’s last pre-pandemic events held in person
were their 2019 Fall Meetings.
“We offer products that show people how to do
things the right way and allow instructors to
teach those subjects, whether it’s Manual J or
Manual S or other commercial products,” said
James. ACCA plans to hold its Fall Forums on
Nov. 1-3, 2021, and the ACCA 2022 Conference and
Expo in St. Louis on March 28-30, 2022.
Service Roundtable recently launched Service
Nation News, a video news broadcast, and is
working to expand the business coaching that it
offers. On May 13-14, the group held the
Barefoot Roundtable event, which met in-person
on a beach in Florida.
“We're helping contractors to build training
processes and build recruiting instruments to
help get more people into and staying in the
trades,” said Danielson.
According to Keyworth, Women in HVACR grew in
both membership and sponsorship over the
pandemic. Women in HVACR is currently planning
its 18th annual conference, which
will take place on Oct. 13-15, 2021, in St.
Petersburg, Florida, with the theme “Breaking
the Surface: Overcoming the Waves of Change.”
“The No. 1 thing people are looking for is
trying to find a new sense of what business
looks like,” said Keyworth. “You’re coming off
of COVID, you’re getting into a new way of doing
business, you have new customers, and there are
new opportunities.”
Rensa Filtration Buys Custom Filter
Rensa Filtration, a family of filtration
companies manufacturing air filtration products,
has acquired Illinois-based Custom Filter LLC.
Custom Filter is a leading manufacturer of
specialty HEPA and ULPA level filtration
products. Additionally, Custom Filter offers
extensive testing and validation programs with
over 60 years of experience servicing OEM,
contract manufacturing, niche and a broad
spectrum of high-end pleated filters.
99% Efficient Tight Sealing Breathable Mask
Developed From MIT Spin Off
Designed for mass manufacture and rapid
deployment, a consortium is building an open
hardware, reusable, sterilizable, modular, and
filter-media agnostic face mask that aims to hit
the N95 efficacy criteria. This project started
with a team of 20+ seemingly random people who
had never met, but who spontaneously formed into
a fast-paced, rapid deployment team—hell-bent on
saving lives. We are engineers, designers,
clinicians, technicians, molders, quality
assurance, regulatory, business, etc.
This collaboration was born out of Helpful
Engineering and
is now being pushed forward with overall project
organization through Open
Standard Respirator.
The OSR Mask is now available. It is not yet
certified, although it has passed preliminary
tests and a NIOSH application will be filed
soon. It is not a medical device. Considering
the virus surge in the US and around the world
we wanted to make the mask available to the
public. To get access to the pre-production
release check out:
https://openstandardindustries.com/
The group created both a non-profit (osrdesign.org) for
international development, and a C-Corp.
Open Standard Industries, Inc. (OSI),
manufacturer of the OSR-M1 face mask, is pleased
to formally announce they have entered into a
Cooperative Research & Development Agreement
(CRADA) with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities
Development Command, Chemical Biological Center
(CBC) and the U.S. Army Medical Materiel
Development Activity (USAMMDA). OSI intends to
submit the OSR-M1 face mask to the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for
certification as an N95 elastomeric half mask
respirator.
In response to shortages in personal protective
equipment as a result of the global coronavirus
pandemic, the U.S. Government has played a
leading role in ramping up production of
certified respirators for healthcare and
essential workers. In the fall of 2020, OSI
entered into this joint CRADA with USAMMDA and
CBC.
As part of the U.S. Army Medical Research and
Development Command’s N95 Respirator Working
Group, multiple prototypes have undergone
testing at the CCDC-CBC. The OSR M1 is the first
elastomeric half mask respirator to successfully
pass this pre-NIOSH testing through a CRADA
collaboration using this streamlined processes
established by the Working Group.
As demonstrated in testing by the CCDC-CBC as
well as other independent laboratories, the
OSR-M1 mask filters provide >99%
particulate filtration efficiency when tested
against NIOSH standardized test procedures. The
elastomeric materials used in the mask design
produce an airtight seal, allowing the mask to
fit securely on the wearer’s face and ensuring
that any inhaled or exhaled air passes through
the filter. The mask is also highly breathable,
passing preliminary NIOSH tests of inhalation
and exhalation resistance.
Dr. Matt Carney, CEO of Open Standard
Industries, notes, “With these results from the
CBC validating our earlier test data, I am
confident in the performance of our mask and in
our ability to take the next steps toward
certification in collaboration with the Army.”
In addition to introducing new N95 respirators
to the civilian and military markets, the CRADA
may enable the USAMMDA to bolster the Department
of Defense’s capability to manufacture
protective respiratory devices. The Army has
previously published efforts to 3D-print masks
for prototyping respirators; the OSR-M1 is
different, as it is produced through high-volume
manufacturing processes, ensuring it can be
rapidly and sustainably manufactured at scale in
the USA while maintaining the quality control
needed for medical-grade materials.
Maj Daniel Williams, Air Force Acquisition
Fellow at the USAMMDA, states, “Collaborations
with small business partners such as OSI, allows
us to develop respirators for quality
respiratory protection, both for future public
health emergencies and military operations. This
helps us to address the needs of the military
and the general public.”
OSI and the USAMMDA intend to submit their joint
application to NIOSH in March 2021.
Open Standard Industries, Inc., is committed to
rapidly deploying and broadening access to safe,
effective health technology. The OSR-M1 Mask is
the company’s first product aimed at addressing
the specific needs of frontline healthcare and
essential workers. OSI is working in
collaboration with various organizations and
hospitals in the United States to test,
validate, and scale mask production. OSI is a
collaborative spinoff of the MIT Media Lab, Wake
Forest Baptist Health, and multiple product
development organizations.
USAMMDA is a subordinate command of the U.S.
Army Medical Research and Development Command,
under the Army Futures Command. As the premier
developer of world-class military medical
capabilities, USAMMDA is responsible for
developing and delivering critical products
designed to protect and preserve the lives of
Warfighters across the globe. USAMRDC is leading
research to prevent, detect and treat COVID-19.
USAMMDA is applying existing field-leading
research capabilities, a global research network
and established partnerships to support the
Whole-of-Government response to COVID-19.
The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development
Command Chemical Biological Center (DEVCOM
Chemical Biological Center) is the primary
Department of Defense technical organization for
non-medical chemical and biological defense.
DEVCOM Chemical Biological Center possesses an
unrivaled chemical biological research and
development infrastructure with scientists,
engineers, technicians and specialists located
at four different sites in the United States:
Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.,
Pine Bluff, Ark., Rock Island, Ill., and Dugway
Proving Ground, Utah. DEVCOM Chemical
Biological Center has a unique role in
technology development that cannot be duplicated
by private industry or research universities. It
fosters research, development, testing, and
application of technologies for protecting
warfighters, first responders and the nation
from chemical and biological warfare agents.
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