to get anxious about meetings with no windows/ventilation

[Goldfsh]

I was in a large meeting room today with about 70 delegates crammed onto tables. There were no opening windows and no audio equipment so the speaker panel was hard to hear - so they turned off the aircon!

The woman next to me was sneezing and clearly unwell, the woman next to her was bunged up and knocking back paracetamol - AIBU to find this situation hugely stressful? There's so much covid/flu/viruses about and with 70 people in a room that just got hotter and stuffier all day - with endless people coughing and half the room fanning themselves from the heat.

AIBU to think that this sort of set-up is just idiocy? We've already got really high sickness levels and this sort of situation is just a super-spreader event - I feel like we've learnt nothing since covid about disease prevention!

You are being very dramatic, OP.

I'd absolutely hate that. I've had a few viruses in recent years that have knocked me out for ages. People who stagger into work when they're ill are being incredibly selfish.

I guess that's why I posted. To me it causes a lot of stress but I don't know if I am just being dramatic.

But I was giving a lift to a colleague and she said that she had found it hard to concentrate because of this issue - she'd intentionally sat by the door for this reason but they had then closed the door! So I wonder how many people are aware/anxious about this risk.

Shrugs in teacher...

I totally agree with you OP, opening the window is absolutely basic staff care in this situation. The warnings are dire about repeat covid infection. Even if you reject the science why risk such a spreader event for staff absence..just stupid, I agree OP. Hepa filters are comparatively cheap and effective too. Solidarity ♥️

Even without the winter bugs issue, this is a crappy way to run a meeting. It guarantees lethargy and a lack of engagement. As a trainer I hate stuffy unventilated meeting rooms with shite aircon. Even more points off for windowless dungeons. 🤨

Yep. Along with the viral spreading, inadequate ventilation it can reduce concentration, increase drowsiness, cause headaches etc. Employers are meant to ensure adequate indoor air. https://www.hse.gov.uk/ventilation/#:~:text=The%20guidance%20aims%20to%20help,wide%20range%20of%20air%20pollutants

I run a medical room in a large school, no windows or ventilation. Imagine all the viruses I am exposed to…..

I would have been annoyed if turning off the air-conditioning made it too hot. I hate being too hot. Viruses wouldn't have crossed my mind.

This would stress me out too. But I did develop Long Covid after quite a mild infection last year.

Not sure what the answer is. You could give feedback that it’s not the healthiest environment and some fresh air/ventilation would be better.

I use First Defence if I’m in a crowded area. But if I was in a small unventilated room and someone started coughing I would leave. Being ill for a year is no fun. I can do 50% of what I use to be able to.

Flu has also started earlier this year and looks to be a nasty strain.

We dont have any windows that open in my office.

Same here. I think I resemble a shark in some ways, needing to sense a current moving. A reassurance that air can circulate, at any rate.
Even at home in mid-Winter I get a panicky, stifling feeling if the bedroom window isnt open. A stuffy bus or train nearly gives me a nervous breakdown! Maybe I asphyxiated in a previous life.

You’d hate me. I can’t stand windows open in meetings unless it’s high summer and our 1980s building has no AC.

I make my team fester in what they say is a hermetically sealed room, I just think it’s cosy 😂

I think if you’re not used to it, it’s stressful. I’m a teacher and tbh it’s a festering germ pit in my classroom most of the year-and especially at the moment. But if I get on a tube/bus and I can’t be near an open window I get antsy.

Op I whole heartedly agree .
I cannot understand how people who lived through COVID do not get the importance of opening a window.

I've had similar situations s being crammed into unventilated spaces .
That ventilation at work link is very interesting, however I bet that is for the main office and not necessarily meeting rooms or staff spaces for lunch

My DD said loads of kids coughing in class and the teacher said she was cold and made them shut the window.

@Millytante I was on a train in a heat wave and the air con wasn't working I asked the guard to open the windows we couldn't open them they couldn't either ,wrong key. It was awful.

Thing is that a cough can linger for up to 6 weeks after a cold. Long after people are no longer infectious. You can’t expect them not to go back to work.
yanbu about the fact that they should have good ventilation though. 70 people in a room in autumn with no ventilation is a super spreader event, you are not wrong. Probably not the ones coughing though…..

Air conditioning is not the same as ventilation. They are often two compleatly seperate systems which I expect is the case here if you are able to turn the AC off.

Oh God, I’d have been in a terrible panic. I commiserate sincerely.