New Index Assesses Virus Survival In The Air In Real-Time

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11 June 2020

Air quality management company uHoo has suggested that 88 per cent of people want air quality data to be publicly displayed.

This would be as a means to assure people that the environment is being managed properly and is safe for them to enter. 

uHoo has also discovered that COVID-19 has accelerated the movement from energy-efficient buildings to healthy buildings. Could better air quality reduce deaths and improve lives and wellbeing globally?  

A healthy building is now the new minimum, and they have produced a uHoo Virus Index to help determine this. The index is the world's first real-time assessment of virus survival based on air quality. 

The index works on a 10-point scoring system categorised into four levels: good, mild/moderate, bad and severe. Each level provides insights about air quality, the risk of sustaining viruses and how to improve the environment to reduce that risk.

“Research has already shown that there is a strong correlation between air quality and the survival of COVID-19 and other viruses."

–Graham Mills

Managing Director, AirProfiling Ltd

COVID-19, Indoor Air Quality And Healthy Buildings

When it comes to buildings, the focus has always been on energy efficiency, sometimes at the expense of people’s health, argues uHoo. However, COVID-19 has meant that the issue of indoor air quality in our buildings has risen higher on the agenda.

Sick building syndrome, people falling ill in offices, temperature discomfort, and odours in buildings all stem from air quality, and affect our general health and wellbeing.

According to uHoo, A recent survey showed that 88% want air quality data to be publicly displayed on a large screen inside offices, building lobbies, restaurants, hotels, and any public establishment as a means to assure guests that the environment is being managed properly and is safe for them to enter. 

Research published in the American Society of Microbiology showed that SARS-COV surrogate viruses (a coronavirus genetically very close to COVID-19), survive longer and can become airborne in specific combinations of temperature and humidity. 

Particulate matter (mix of small particles and liquid droplets) can stay suspended in the air and become vectors of viruses, and may have potential health consequences.

Scientists from Harvard University also reported that long-term exposure to particulate matter increased the death rate of COVID-19 cases.

Picture: A screenshot of the business dashboard from uHoo's Indoor Air Quality Monitoring system

Measuring Particulate Matter

uHoo have launched an index to measures particulate in real-time and send alerts when it reaches unhealthy thresholds so action can be immediately taken.

The uHoo Indoor Air Quality Monitoring system is marketed in the UK by AirProfiling Ltd based in Newark, Nottinghamshire, on behalf of uHoo Limited, Hong Kong.

AirProfiling’s Managing Director, Graham Mills said “Research has already shown that there is a strong correlation between air quality and the survival of COVID-19 and other viruses. We can utilise uHoo’s air quality data within our homes and workplaces to create an environment that helps to deactivate viruses and, at the same time, enhance our immune system.”

Picture: A photograph of a person wearing a facial covering

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 11 June 2020

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