If it’s found to be airborne, how will that work with air conditioning/fans/heaters that blow out air?

[Reastie]

I’m thinking mainly about work places/gyms/shops/restaurants/hairdressers (for blow drys) etc where they have air conditioning or heating systems that blow out air.

From what I’ve seen it looks likely it will be officially acknowledged at some point that it spreads in the air rather than just droplet spread, if that’s the case then, especially with winter coming up, won’t indoor places with warm air blowing to warm up spaces be a potential hot bed for mass contamination? How could the govt reduce this route other than better ventilation/masks inside/en mass routine testing? This could be a real worry surely

Some places have already switched their air conditioning from recirculating air to sucking in fresh air from the outside.

I’ve got an appointment at the hairdresser next week and have been told they won’t be blow drying my hair.

Yes, it will be a bloody disaster because the humidity drops in the winter as well and the virus survives longer in drier air.
Adding humidification and better filters would solve the problem but will cost a huge amount of money, which most businesses won't be able to afford.

This is probably the best article I've read so far

It's from am engineering magazine and also explains the difference between droplets and aerosols and how they are transmitted.

If you look at the spread of corona in California at the moment it’s spreading super fast in hot places where aircon is used Prolifically and not in the cooler climates where domestic aircon is less common

Just to clarify that today WHO amended its official assessment of how covid is spread, adding this paragraph:

“ There have been reported outbreaks of COVID-19 in some closed settings, such as restaurants, nightclubs, places of worship or places of work where people may be shouting, talking, or singing. In these outbreaks, aerosol transmission, particularly in these indoor locations where there are crowded and inadequately ventilated spaces where infected persons spend long periods of time with others, cannot be ruled out. More studies are urgently needed to investigate such instances and assess their significance for transmission of COVID-19.”

I always thought it was airborne, isn't that why they recommend wearing masks.

The airbourne spread has been known about for a while. There was an interesting article about spread by an air conditioing unit in a restaurant back in April. Scientists are now saying that masks are as or more important than handwashing given the amount of airbourne spread.
www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/health/airflow-coronavirus-restaurants.amp.html

Quite worrying for the school that I work in. During the winter there are at least 3 classrooms that rely on hot air heaters, those rooms have no radiators.

Maybe your school need to buy some electric or oil filled heaters now before theres a rush.

Yes those would possibly be an option but two of those classrooms are nursery children so I’m not sure how safe that would be. Crikey it’s one problem after another!

A lot of air conditioning has HEPA filters in I don't know if filter Corona out but , the suppliers are offering some filters that are meant to.

An electrician can install panel heaters on the wall out of little ones reach and there may be ceiling fan heaters.

Thanks for replies, baroness I’m off to read the link. I’ve seen the studies about being airborne and known about this for quite some time but didn’t quite appreciate that the govt and WHO haven’t given this as a method of transition.

HappyHammy I believe masks they say work by stopping most droplets you breathe out going out into the atmosphere to then drop on surfaces where people may touch and catch it rather than saying it’s carried by the air iykwim (I’m not a scientist though —as you can tell—)