Study calls for new air quality regulations in buildings

Published in Science, the analysis was carried out by 40 scientists including Cath Noakes, professor of Environmental Engineering for Buildings at Leeds University, and a member of SAGE. 

According to the group, the shift required to ensure a ‘significantly reduced’ pathogen count in buildings is on the same scale as that of the response to Chadwick’s Sanitary Report in 1842, which led the UK government to organise clean water supplies and centralised sewage systems in cities.

Whilst public health regulations have concentrated on sanitation, drinking water and food safety, the risk from airborne pathogens such as influenza or Covid-19 has been ‘addressed fairly weakly, if at all’ in terms of regulations and standards for building design and operation pertaining to air quality, the scientists said.

AIRBODS to mitigate indoor airborne Covid risk

Research during the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the role that aerosols play in spreading disease. When a person with a respiratory infection speaks, coughs or sneezes, particles are emitted from their nose and mouth and are carried in the air indoors, infecting other people.