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 don't think Germans have a monopoly on airing houses! It's pretty normal here in the UK too

Does this really do anything apart from give the middle classes a sense of superiority over those uneducated fools who like to be warm?

Why make it a class issue ffs.

Scaramouche,

They have lost the public info war, everyone is obsessed with hand-washing.
They have forgotten its a respitory infection.

@KetoPenguin

Does this really do anything apart from give the middle classes a sense of superiority over those uneducated fools who like to be warm?

WTF? What has class got to do with fresh air?

The idea of opening windows being generally a good thing ...I don’t get it. Living in C London you are not letting in a blast of fresh ozone but a lungful of particulates.

Also the put on more clothes thing doesn’t work. Our office was 19 degrees today. Far too cold for me and I was wearing three jumpers. My colleague was in a sleeveless top and was fine. If you feel the cold you feel the cold.

If you are on a busy road open the windows furthest away from the road. Like if you are walking you choose the route with least traffic.

@helpfulperson

It is already in schools, offices, shops etc official guidance.

I was about to post that I thought this was already guidance? We're keeping windows open at work, and I am fairly sure that if meeting another household indoors in a private home we are advised to ensure the room is well ventilated?

In cars too: my fil said it was advised to wear masks and have windows open if giving someone a lift! I'd missed that one.

I grew up in London in the filthy air of the 1960s. As per Dr Benjamin Spock's book of Baby and Child Care I would be left outside in my pram for naps every day, all year round. To get fresh air.

I'm pretty healthy so far.

If I have a window open in my house then any hint of wind has a chainsaw like noise roaring through the vents. I can only have them open when I'm out or on very still days

@KetoPenguin both my mother and my MiL (both avid airers) are staunchly working class. What are you on about?

Does this really do anything apart from give the middle classes a sense of superiority over those uneducated fools who like to be warm?

Eh?

This has been the advice here for ages. At my school we have as many doors and windows open as possible - it’s freezing and rather noisy!

Dr John Campbell has been going on about this for ages. It's certainly key when we now realise it's more likely to be transmitted through water vapour and droplets, than surfaces. Viral load is important. So, SD, masks and ventilation are much more important than hand sanitising and disinfecting surfaces.

Years ago in hospitals, they had more natural ventilation and bigger spaces between beds. I always open windows for a bit. It's important after you have visitors aswell.

It’s the same at my school. We aren’t allowed to close our classroom door and we are supposed to keep the windows open too. We’re in NE Scotland and it’s freezing! The heating goes off at lunchtime. From 1 - 4pm it is grim.

Although schools generally seem to have got the message about open windows, I get the impression a lot of people still see hand sanitising and cleaning surfaces as the key areas to focus on, thanks to our government's misguided focus on that at the outset and its inability to ever admit to getting anything wrong.

florence nightingale touted the benefits of fresh air and sunshine in 1860.
based on old school common sense i've had my windows open since early in the pandemic. it really wasn't rocket science to figure that one out. airborn/droplet/confined spaces....open the window!

I understand it has to be done because of Covid but in normal times I hate window openers with a passion. Always the ones who moan it’s a heatwave when the mercury goes above 70!

@Abraid2

In the UK we seem to have forgotten that there are warm winter clothes available, such as wool, heatech long-sleeved t-shirts, etc. People seem to think they should be able to wear t-shirts indoors in all seasons. Even in the depths of winter we have bedroom windows opened a tiny chink. Every morning in winter I open all the windows I can for a few minutes to get a good airflow through the house.

I agree, windows should all be open, people can wear warm clothes.

People who feel the cold more than thise around them and can't keep warm by layering clothes would be well advised to see their GP to rule out anemia, thyroid problems or vascular problems or metabolic problems. "Feeling the cold" excessively is often a sign of an underlying condition.

I thought airing your house was pretty standard in the UK too. My mum always did it every morning when I was a child and I do it too. Putting your baby or toddler out to 'air' was also commonplace when I was a child.

I was shielded, and have school
age DC. One of my requests on her return was that she should sit in the best ventilated part of the classroom (and ideally at the back, so no one is breathing forward on to her)

Open all day? I always open all my windows wide in the morning for about an hour, unless there is horizontal rain. But I wouldn't want them open all day!

NHS office in UK here, they have cranked up the heating and instructed us to open the windows on arrival and keep open, and in patient clinic rooms the windows have to be open for half an hour before appointments.