With all that is going on in the world today as we face COVID-19, we know we need to wash our hands, distance ourselves from others, and disinfect our homes and places of business. However, we don’t want to forget the importance of cleaning HVAC and air duct systems. These systems are comparable to the respiratory system of the building or home. There are various methods of infectious disease transmission, including contact (both direct and indirect), transmission by large droplets, and inhalation of airborne particles containing infectious microorganisms.
Disease Transmission via HVAC Systems
The practice of the HVAC professional in reducing disease transmission is focused primarily on those diseases transmitted by airborne particles, as is the case with COVID-19. When an outbreak occurs, and someone is infected with the disease further transmission of the disease through the HVAC system must be considered. Transmission occurs not only through direct contact or large droplets but also through the air. HVAC systems contribute far more to the transmission of disease and to the reduction of transmission risk than the average person realizes. One of the main reasons for this is that it is easy to forget.
In today’s modern society we take climate control for granted because most of us have always had it in our homes and places we work and visit. This “out of sight out of mind” phenomenon is something that can cause us to forget such an important part of our facilities and health.
Hospitals, healthcare facilities, and other sensitive facilities use ventilation as a primary infectious disease control strategy through the dilution of air in the room around a source and removal of infectious agents. Companies that focus on HVAC system hygiene and are certified by the National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA) are trained, experienced, and understand how to clean, disinfect, and reduce the risk caused by all sorts of diseases.
According to the CDC and what they currently know of COVID-19, the transmission of the disease is between people within close contact of one another and through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. When a person coughs or sneezes not only do you end up with large droplets that can be seen by the naked eye, there are also micro-droplets that are created. Those micro-droplets can remain suspended in the air or circulated through an HVAC system.
Medical professionals, at the time this was written, are still unsure of the exact lifespan of the virus outside of the human body, but a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the virus that causes COVID-19 remains viable for several hours to days on surfaces and in aerosols. This coupled with the knowledge from the EPA that indoor air can be more than ten times more contaminated than the outdoors support the case that while we are under either self or mandatory quarantine during this time, we may still be at risk. Not only should surfaces we can see be disinfected but so should our HVAC/duct systems.
Our Experience Solving the Problem
There are many cases we have experienced where apartment buildings, offices, schools, and universities with common areas such as hallways are higher pressure than the apartment, rooms or offices and the tenants were experiencing illness that was passing from individuals in the common areas. It was discovered that airborne particles were being distributed throughout the common areas and pushed into the occupied rooms thus causing exposure and illness to those in other areas and even in different parts of the buildings because of HVAC systems serving multiple common areas.
A NADCA Certified HVAC/duct cleaning company like ENVIRO-AIR Services has the ability to clean and disinfect your HVAC/duct systems, not only will you have cleaner air, a healthier building, but systems that are cleaned are more efficient and can reduce utility bills. In our over twenty years of business at ENVIRO-AIR Services, we have been trusted by tens of thousands of homeowners, offices, hospitals, universities, schools, government agencies, food manufacturers and many more to ensure they have healthier indoor air quality. If you have any questions, please contact ENVIRO-AIR Services at 417-832-9980 or fill out our contact form, and we would be happy to talk to you about your concerns and what we can do to help you.