The outlet air from the HEPA unit wouldn’t contain any virus. In terms of positioning, though, it would probably be best to be treated like a fan. I’m not familiar with their detailed specifications, but I don’t think that the induced airflow from these devices would be very strong (unlike that from a room fan).
The Washington state restaurant guidelines discuss it.
At its highest setting, the output from our Coway is equivalent to a very strong fan, so the intake has the same volume.
My apologies, I missed that.
And yes, for any fan the intake and output volume flow rates will always be the same.
Experts estimate that 33 to 55% of LA County residents have immunity.
Real-world data on vaccine effectiveness:
Now that is one hell of a typo.
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Meanwhile, back in Sweden…
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Ironically, as large-scale vaccinations are in full swing and restrictions are being loosened in many geographies, Sweden seems to be tightening its rules, including opening hours for restaurants. Under the old Covid-19 restrictions, restaurants serving alcohol had to close at 10 pm (I believe). That has been changed to 8:30 pm effective March 1. Also new is a limit of one person per table at food courts.
Yes, people seem to think that there are no restrictions at all in Sweden, but that’s not the case. And they’re vaccinating as fast as they can.
I was happy to read that Dr. Fauci is finally addressing the mechanics of pandemic control in addition to controls that are strictly medical. It bothered me, early on into the pandemic, that there was no announced national strategy for the mechanics of control. I’m assuming that his stated recommendation amounts to a national srtategy.
Here’s a snip from an article today (ABC News):
One year into the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci told “Good Morning America” Thursday that the “answer to get us back to normality” is a blend of vaccinations and a “gradual” easing of restrictions.
That includes “a combination of a very, very aggressive implementation of the vaccine program – which you are actually seeing in real time – together with a continuation of public health measures and a gradual pulling back, as opposed to just turning a light switch on and off,” he said.
In other words, as a spokesman for covid control in the US, Dr. Fauci is finally recommending “dimmer switch” control, as opposed to “on/of” control. Although not said explicitly, I assume this would apply in both directions.
All experts have been recommending gradual, phased reopening all along.
That’s not your notion of “dimmer switch,” which would require orders of magnitude more data than we have.
The thing that would require a more complex algorithm that I’ve advocated is engineering-level feedback control, not simple dimmer switch control per se. Until now in CA we’ve seen only on/off controls – hardly dimmer-switch mode. Open/closed/open/closed, ad nauseum.
I disagree that all experts have been recommending dimmer-switch control all along.
We’re starting to see some semblance of dimmer-switch control in CA very recently, with the gradual easing of restrictions. But that’s a first.
Currently, you plop into a Tier (and before the Four Tiers it was even worse) or go into lockdown suddenly, when you cross a threshold. Things close down instantly. They equally instantly re-open when the criteria are met in the other direction. And so on, and so on…
Four tiers was better than the original two categories, but still hardly dimmer switch.
It’s not on/off. E.g. purple tier allows outdoor dining only, red tier indoor dining at 25% capacity / 100 diners max., orange tier 50% capacity / 200 diners, yellow 50% capacity period.
Tell that to the people whose businesses were shut down suddenly (as in, from “on” to “off”) when crossing from, say, Red to Purple, or from Purple to Lockdown.
Thanks for posting the refresher, but I’m very familiar with how the Tier system works. So familiar that I’m burned out with it.
With a three-week or longer gap between infection and hospitalization, and little or no random testing, anything more granular than that is just a fantasy.
The intent was that counties would not backslide to earlier tiers. Now that they’re finally vaccinating food and agricultural workers, the backsliding might stop.
I know that’s what you think, Robert. We just disagree, and we’re not going to resolve what you insist is a “fantasy” here. Perhaps it is, but I’d say let the feedback control experts address and answer that. There’s no shortage of experts in that field.
It’s true, though, that our testing program has hardly been random. That’s definitely a complication.
In any case, I was happy to hear Dr. Fauci use the following phrase, in particular:
…a gradual pulling back, as opposed to just turning a light switch on and off
Feedback control requires near-real-time data. What we’d need for fine-grained control is widespread random daily testing. What we have is mostly ICU bed counts, which, when they go up, tell you that you fucked up three or four weeks ago.
Fauci was talking about Texas and Mississippi
Perhaps Dr. Fauci’s remarks today were in the context of Texas and Mississippi, which have gone the other direction by re-opening everything instantly (instant “on”), but I read his words to be a broad recommendation that I have to assume he supports more generally, for all states.
I’ve always felt that sudden large-increment changes in either direction don’t reflect a very smart approach.