Germany to make ventilation and opening windows a part of the strategy of dealing with coronavirus

[YellowWave]

Look at this:

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/30/germans-embrace-fresh-air-to-ward-off-coronavirus

Germany is making ventilation a key component to fighting the coronavirus spread. Makes sense. At home the windows are usually open. I open windows at work for ventilation, especially now and for safety reasons for the virus in case anyone is infectious and we don't know it yet.

I am a nanny and the family I work for is absolutely allergic to having some windows open. I hate it. I go about opening windows to ventilating the place to try and keep us all safe. But they go around closing them again.

I work not would!

I was in a meeting today at work with eight people in the room. I asked to open the windows for ventilation, but then everyone complained they were too cold and asked to close them! We weren't even 1m apart either, no masks etc.

notevenat20 the same way it slways has probably. I've lived in Bavaria for 13 years and yes, we get lots of snow most winters, but thats never stopped anyone airing their houses - most Germans are fairly religious about regular airing IME

Isn't the point with respect to covid to have continual air movement akin to being outside?

@notevenat20

notevenat20 the same way it slways has probably. I've lived in Bavaria for 13 years and yes, we get lots of snow most winters, but thats never stopped anyone airing their houses - most Germans are fairly religious about regular airing IME

Isn't the point with respect to covid to have continual air movement akin to being outside?

no, the point is to reduce viral load

This is very interesting. I grew up in the States but my dad was German. Always had the windows open. Always! I am exactly the same. Hail, rain, or shine, day and night (especially!), I keep the windows open a crack- even in winter. I air the house every day- keep the back doors open all year long. Just wear warm clothes- pure wool. Have good bedding. I feel this gives us enormous health benefits. There's a lot to be said for sticking with some of the tried and true habits of our parents and grandparents!

It comes down to basic good old common sense in the end. Everyone knows that lots of fresh air and sunlight in the summer is good for you.

@lljkk

If the virus is airborne then wouldn't it blow in when someone contagious walks by open windows?

No hun.

Outdoors any virus is diluted.

If there is an infectious person the indoor air will carry more virus over time. Open the window to dilute the effect.

If you have an ill person at home do the same.

We have all the windows and doors open at my school, it’s starting to get really cold now, I’ve got a stiff aching neck so have taken to wearing a scarf all the time. Much prefer the t this way to stuffy room though.
(Especially afternoons after “roast dinner”.😂)

I live on a main road- if I have the windows open I can't hear/be heard on video calls, or watch TV. Even with a headset. So I have a mix of open and shut depending on what I'm doing. If I had someone else going round opening windows I'd find that extremely irritating.

Florence nightingale, the first Canon of nursing is fresh air.

It's bloody obvious... Move air particles, disperse the bloody virus!!

Op I'm the same as you! Victim to whatever other people feel in the rooms we share.

We can cure the cold, we can move, wear warm clothing, what we can't magic up is an air filter system to get rid of covid. But we can open the bloody window.
I can't believe how blinkered some people are over it..

There needs to be public information on a loop tbh.

The authorities got stuck at hand washing.

I have also spent time in Denmark and people air their duvets on the balcony in the morning there and babies seem to have a nap in their proms at the crèche outside!

Normal German airing is quite limited, it is true (otherwise, as I said, you get damp). For complete inability to open windows in offices in the UK you can blame terrorists. An open window destroys the integrity of the building in a bombing.

And you are not supposed to heat the outside either (environment and heating costs)
Turn off the heating / open the windows wide for 10 minutes (not too long or the heating has to do more (expensive) work / close them again and switch the heating back on.
More modern systems (like the one in my office) are designed for this type of airing.
The 'sophisticated hinge mechanism' to quote the newspaper article - 'auf Kippe stellen' allows airing without having to empty window sills or tables, prevents toddlers from climbing out, rain from coming in and can easily be made pet secure.
And, no, drafts are not a good idea (give me a stiff neck).

@BeNiceLikeIRL

I open all the windows twice a day for a few minutes Scandinavia does this too I gather. Airing the house in the mornings etc.

Bloody love it! German grandmother and my windows are flung open everyday. Its part of basic hygiene in Germany, everyone does it.

If the virus is airborne then wouldn't it blow in when someone contagious walks by open windows? -- why not? Foot & Mouth disease (the livestock virus) is supposed to just get blown around. Why call covid "airborne" if it's nowhere near as contagious as that?

It seems to be far less transmissible outdoors. So long as your not dancing with someone at a carnival - there was a "superspreader" event at an outdoor carnival on the Dutch / German border in February.

Typical transmission has been indoors.

@Asterion

A lot of UK schools are already doing this, aren't they?

Not ours.

@lljkk it's not 1 single virus particle you need to worry about, it's the concentration of virus particles in the air around you, so the benefits of ventilation (dilution) outweigh the risk of virus drifting in from outside.

I sort of thoughg it was pretty standard to air the house in the uk too?

I work for a German company and this has been in their thinking for a while. I’ve been cold for weeks now at work!

Put a jumper on, wrap a blanket around your knees or enjoy a hot water bottle.
Embrace the breeze! I love the letting the air in even if the stench of cow pats lingers around the house.

@MillieEpple me too - but then my mother is German so it's hard for me to be sure. Dh says it was normal in his family growing up though, and they're as English as it gets.

Jings, mainland Europeans must be a hardy bunch. I’m in Glasgow and my extremities have been frozen all week, no chance I’m sitting near an open window. 🥶