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Officials in every U.S. state and jurisdiction have now ended, or announced an end, to their indoor universal masking requirements. And by the end of March 2022, there will be no more statewide or school mask mandates in effect.

The mass ending of mask requirements comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its recommendations for mask use and unveiled their new plan for determining COVID-19 risk in communities.

However, the air we breathe inside at work, school, and home was in crisis long before COVID-19 struck. According to the EPA, Americans, on average, spend approximately 90% of their time indoors, where the concentrations of some pollutants are often 2 to 5 times higher than typical outdoor concentrations.

Cleaning air that is shared with the right solutions can maintain high levels of indoor air quality to ensure not only physical health, but also mental performance, comfort, safety, and quality of life for employees and visitors.

Businesses that prioritize clean air future-proof their success from indoor air pollution and airborne viruses

And with the 74% of U.S. adults saying they feel comfortable going out to eat at a restaurant, which is only up 1 percentage point on March 6, 2022, it’s imperative that restaurants, hospitals, homes, schools, and so many other spaces do their best to ensure cleaner air so that people not only feel safer but physically are safer with or without a mask.

By sanitizing the indoor air to ensure it is free of harmful particulates, fumes, germs, and bacteria, visitors will feel reassured that their health and wellbeing is valued. Businesses will also have an advantage over their competitors, setting them apart when attracting customers.

Here’s a few ways to help improve the indoor air quality of your business:

1. Keep Allergens at Bay
Allergens, which to many may seem like a minor inconvenience, are increasingly contributing to a global respiratory health crisis. Dust, pollen, and pet dander, as well as mold from our bathrooms and airborne particles from food preparation or waste, exacerbate respiratory and sinus-related issues such as allergies and asthma, as well as causing shortness of breath.

Aldehydes and VOCs that are often found in carpets can cause respiratory symptoms among office workers as well as impaired productivity. All carpets should be cleaned with a vacuum equipped with a HEPA filter twice a week to help reduce allergens and pollutants.

2. Maintain HVAC System Regularly
Toxic fumes, such as toluene from vehicle exhaust emissions, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO) fumes, and gases from industries make their way indoors, contaminating our indoor air and have been linked to asthma and skin reactions, such as allergic contact dermatitis and urticaria. Plus, an increasing body of evidence reveals the deadly nature of our unwitting coexistence with indoor air pollution. Once inhaled, ultrafine particles cannot be expelled from the body. They make their way into the bloodstream where they cause long-term damage and are now known to be carriers of infectious viruses.

Regular maintenance of HVAC systems in your organization is crucial to ensuring the air is clean and fresh. Filters should be replaced on a timely basis, and units serviced to ensure that harmful biological pollutants are not being blown into the room.

3. Install a Trusted Air Purification System
It seems natural to assume that the air inside is cleaner than the air outside. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. As an increasingly indoor species, air pollution is nevertheless the cause of around seven million premature deaths each year as a result of stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, and acute respiratory infections.

While many traditional air purifiers may filter allergens and neutralize some gases and odors, not all have the capabilities to effectively decontaminate the air. A clinically tested and proven air purification system is essential to create a healthy indoor environment.

Only the NQ patented Air Purification units kill airborne pathogens in a single pass and transform any room into a germ-fee space. NQ’s systems are the peerless solution for pure, safe air.

And when you become a valued NQ customer, you will receive a “Pure, Safe Indoor Air” shield decal exclusively for NQ customers. This shield was designed to let everyone know that your organization has taken the steps to ensure their safety and health by providing clean indoor air through our proven air purification systems.

By proudly displaying the NQ shield at the entrance of your establishment, you are:

• Sharing your commitment to upholding the cleanest indoor air quality
• Showing employees you are committed to their safety
• Providing visitors with the peace of mind to enter
• Gaining a competitive edge for your organization

Talk to an NQ Air Purification System Specialist today to learn more about creating a healthier indoor environment for your business today.

COVID-19 has created a real and urgent need for effective methods to improve indoor air quality. As nightmares about schools and other essential organizations investing money and faith in inept solutions continue to emerge, so has an immediate need to protect public health with proven and accurate information.

“Along with all of the fly-by-night companies that have spawned, seemingly out of nowhere, have come a lot of false claims and gimmicks that,” according to Peter Broadbridge, NQ’s VP of Engineering, “are not only untrue but dangerous.”

A significant issue with the current air purification market is the identifier “HEPA-like.”

The HEPA standard has been established since the 1940s. “There is no “HEPA-like,” confirms Broadbridge. “You either meet the standard, or you don’t.”

Another fallacy is the danger of ultraviolet light (UV). Properly applied UV disinfection is a reliable and fast method to sanitize air Micro-organisms, inactivating bacteria and viruses and reducing their proliferation. “What the public needs to be aware of is that UVC bulbs at 253.6 nanometers do not produce ozone and does not provide a health hazard.”

Just as troubling are the many “gimmicks” on the market like ionization, Photocatalytic Oxidation (PCO), and electrostatic precipitation (ESP). While they may be interesting technologies, they are misapplied, untested, and unproven air purification methods, and in many cases, they can be harmful.

Even an effective air purification system can become useless in the wrong size space. This is why the overpromise of clean air without the right ACH calculations is a big problem.

Broadridge advises anyone seeking a clinically tested and proven air purification system to educate themselves on the facts first and seek an experienced partner who can offer guidance and honest customer reviews.

For over 30 years, NQ Industries’ mission has been to create healthier indoor environments through their patented, medical-grade air purify purification systems. Today, they are continuing that mission by alerting the public of the dangers of false claims and helping continue to save lives by providing pure, safe air for medical institutions, military, and commercial applications worldwide.

Talk to an NQ Air Purification System Specialist today to learn more about creating a healthier indoor environment for your organization with confidence.

With the winter holidays upon us, increasing travel, shopping, and festive outings, health experts are concerned that as more people congregate in close contact, the cases of COVID-19, along with seasonal cold and flu will rise.

At NQ inc., we understand the importance of holiday traditions. We also understand the impact the shutdown had on many businesses and how foot traffic in physical stores dropped steeply as more customers stayed home. So, to help businesses comfortably welcome clients to partake in the festive season with peace of mind, here’s a few tips we compiled.

Set and Communicate Safety Standards

Ensuring that your business stays up to date with the current safety standards and reminding your customers about the proposed safety measures, whether it’s to keep social distance, wash their hands, or wear their masks, shows how much you care. You can check the CDC website, as well as your state government website for the most recent facts and updates.

Having custom COVID-19 signage up in your establishment is a great way to respond to your communications with your customers flowing effectively.

Require Employees to Wear Masks

More than half of U.S. adults (57%) believe masks should be mandated for employees working at on-site locations, even if they have been vaccinated against Covid-19, according to an American Staffing Association survey.

Even as government officials roll back Covid-19 requirements throughout the country, people are still anxious about being in around others again.

In fact, 69% of customers say that businesses in which employees wear masks make them feel more at ease.

So, it’s a comfort for the consumers to see employees wear masks since they’re potentially coming into close contact with more individuals than the average consumer.

Sanitize High-Touch Surfaces

81% of consumers said habitually cleaning high-traffic surfaces would make them feel more comfortable in businesses amid the coronavirus outbreak, including 55% who said it would make them feel “much more” comfortable.

According to the CDC, disinfecting using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s List N disinfectants kills any remaining germs on surfaces, which further reduces any risk of spreading infection.

You may want to either clean more frequently or choose to disinfect in addition to cleaning in shared spaces if the space:

• Is a high traffic area, with a large number of people.
• Is poorly ventilated.
• Does not provide access to handwashing or hand sanitizer.
• Is occupied by people at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19.

If a sick person or someone who tested positive for COVID-19 has been in your facility within the last 24 hours, you should clean and disinfect the space.

Make Hand Sanitizers Available 

The average worker comes into contact with about 10 million bacteria a day. And bacteria can stay on a person’s hand for up to 3 hours.

By properly placing hand sanitizer throughout your business, you make it easier for people to sanitize their hands before they touch high-touch surfaces. Having sanitizer easily accessible also helps remind and encourage employees to use it more often.

And with 77% of U.S. adults stating how making hand sanitizer more available in businesses makes them feel more comfortable, installing more hand sanitizers around businesses is a great safety measure that has relatively low cost.

Purify Indoor Air

The threat of Covid-19 makes all indoor spaces a potential risk. Along with following proper COVID-19 best practices, having an air purifier capable of capturing ultrafine particles can help to reduce the spread of airborne viruses like COVID-19. Which is why the CDC recommends the use of HEPA air filtration in public spaces.

Many businesses are unable to provide the proper ventilation or filtration because they are housed in either in a modern building that is sealed shut, with no option to open a window or in an older building, with outdated HVAC systems. Using a portable HEPA air purifier, is a cost-effective way to ensure contaminants, such as viruses and bacteria, are safely removed from the air.

Your customer and employees deserve to be in a space with clean air. Having this extra layer of protection added to where people come to gather is essential in helping to keep people well.

Here at NQ inc., we help businesses welcome visitors to better indoor environments with the same level of medical-grade air purification systems trusted by top healthcare facilities. NQ systems combine efficacy and aesthetics designed to provide the cleanest, pathogen-free air in just about any space.

Visit, https://nqinc.com/solutions/small-business/ to learn more about how NQ Air Purification Systems provide the economical solution business leaders need to eradicate airborne pathogens and create healthy businesses in any holiday season.

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act was signed into law on March 11, 2021. The $1.9 trillion package includes $122 billion for the ARP Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) to assist State educational agencies and school districts reopen and sustain the safe operation of schools and address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the nation’s students.

While about 20% of the funds must go for efforts to reduce “learning loss,” an unspecified amount can be devoted to mitigating virus transmission, improving environmental health, meeting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) health guidelines and protocols. NQ is rising to the challenge, using its three decades of experience to help learning institutions make the most efficient use of the funds while creating the most effective solution to indoor air quality improvement.

“Our academic leaders are challenged with allocating funds for essential needs, which first and foremost is providing a healthy environment for students and staff,” states NQ President William Carey. “We are helping educators avoid investing in ineffective systems and guiding them to long-term solutions that are easy to implement and proven to deliver pure, safe indoor air for decades to come.”

For over 29 years, NQ has been guiding Elementary and Secondary Schools throughout the United States to help improve indoor air quality (IAQ) and create healthier learning environments.

NQ’s Single Pass Kill^® systems — proven to trap and kill airborne pathogens in a single pass while exceeding CDC, EPA, and ASHRAE guidelines — protect both the health and investment of institutions. NQ systems provide long-term solutions and save schools from the costs of retrofitting current HVAC systems. The NQ systems only need to be plugged in and start to work instantly.

Richmond Hill, Trinity Day, and The Children’s Center of Hamden are some of the many institutions choosing to invest in NQ medical-grade systems to help protect their spaces against viruses, bacteria, and molds that contribute to short and long-term health problems for students and staff.

As Sarah Lockery, LMFT, Chief Development and Engagement Officer of The Children’s Center, states, “The air is cleaner and healthier at The Children’s Center of Hamden thanks to NQ Industries air purification systems.”

The expert team at NQ is helping lead educators avoid investing in false claims and sub-par systems that are new-to-market and ineffective against COVID-19. To find out how your school officials can receive NQ ARP ESSER guidance from an NQ Air Purification Specialist, contact Lionel Reid via email at LReid@nqinc.com or call 860-990-3591.

About NQ Industries
Bill Carey and his NQ team began developing air purification systems designed to support airborne infection control for Tuberculosis isolation rooms in 1992. Over two decades later, the same pioneering technologies, combining HEPA and Ultraviolet (UVGI), are clinically tested and globally proven to kill airborne pathogens, including COVID-19, in a single pass. NQ is proud to be the industry leader providing solutions for pure, safe air to learning institutions, government branches, and commercial customers around the world.

To learn more, visit NQinc.com.

Founded in 1833, The Children’s Center of Hamden is Connecticut’s oldest childcaring agency. Helping children and families for close to a century, The Children’s Center is a private, nonprofit behavioral health organization dedicated to assisting individuals of all cultural backgrounds to achieve their highest level of functioning through quality treatment, education, and care. Providing hope to youth who struggle with psychological or social problems, physical or sexual abuse, learning disabilities, substance abuse, and family trauma has been the mission of the Children’s Center.

The center’s treatment programs are licensed by the State of Connecticut, and Whitney Hall School is accredited by the Connecticut State Department of Education. With a Gold Seal accreditation from The Joint Commission for Behavioral Health Care Services, the center continues to support mending the hearts and minds of the community they serve with a wide array of services as unique as the individuals they serve.

Consistent with the center’s efforts to provide equitable health for all served, it is a high priority for the multi-service agency to not only ensure the center is a welcoming place for all but a healthy one as well. So, in seeking out the best solution to provide cleaner indoor air, The Children’s Center partnered with NQ Industries.

With the understanding of the comparative risk studies performed by EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) consistently ranking indoor air pollution among the top five environmental risks to public health and also stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus, maintaining good IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) is an essential need of the center. To help preserve The Children Center’s healthy indoor environment, NQ Industries, located on Sherman Avenue in Hamden, CT, donated air purification units to match those purchased by the Center.

Combining innovative technologies and the ancient practices of “clean rooms” for healing, Bill Carey and his NQ team began developing air purification systems designed to support airborne infection control for Tuberculosis isolation rooms in 1993. Now, 20 plus years later, the same pioneering technologies, combining HEPA and Ultraviolet (UVGI), are clinically tested and globally proven to kill airborne pathogens, including COVID-19, and provide pure, safe air for medical institutions, military and commercial applications around the world.

“Whether it’s patients stricken with TB or public health concerns about the spread of COVID, our mission is to help people, and that is what our systems do — actually kill every airborne infection in the room – if it’s a pathogen, it is not making it through our machine period,” states Bill Carey, the president of NQ.

Driven by innovation and an unwavering commitment to provide highly efficient, unsurpassed quality and safe maintenance for easy to use, quickly deployable, and economically viable systems, NQ wanted to make sure The Children’s Center was outfitted with air purifiers. “The work the Children’s Center of Hamden does is important to us as a company, states Elizabeth Carey, NQ Industries VP of Operations, “because children are our future.”

Since adding the air purifiers, “the air is cleaner and healthier at The Children’s Center of Hamden thanks to NQ Industries air purification systems,” affirms Sarah Lockery, LMFT, Chief Development and Engagement Officer of The Children’s Center.

That’s because, through accurate assessment of required Air Changes per Hour, NQ Air Purification Units solve the issues of inadequate ventilation and internal and external contamination with 99.9% removal of airborne contaminants. The systems have helped thousands of worldwide organizations eradicate airborne pathogens, including MRSA, SARS, Tuberculosis, Aspergillus, and now Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Derived from the phrase “Natures Quarters,” NQ has spent two decades delivering on its promise to create safe, healthy indoor environments by developing peerless air purification solutions that protect all communities and help provide peace of mind.

To find out more about how NQ Industries can help your organization actualize healthy indoor environments visit, https://nqinc.com/contact/.

In 1992, the NQ team began developing air purification systems designed to support airborne infection control for Tuberculosis isolation rooms. Now 20+ years later, the same pioneering technologies, combining HEPA and Ultraviolet (UVGI), are clinically tested and globally proven to kill airborne pathogens, including COVID-19.

This infographic showcases some of the many stats that have made us the proven leader in improving indoor air quality (IAQ) and providing pure, safe air for medical institutions, military and commercial applications around the world.

For more information on how NQ Air Purification Solutions can help create a healthier indoor environment for your organization, contact us today.

What are Coronaviruses?

Coronaviruses (CoV) are a family of enveloped viruses that were first discovered in the 1960s. Coronaviruses are most commonly found in animals, including camels and bats, and are not typically transmitted between animals and humans. However, six strains of coronavirus were previously known to be capable of transmission from animals to humans, the most well-known being SARSCoV (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus), responsible for a large outbreak in 2003, and MERS-CoV (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus), responsible for an outbreak in 2012. COVID-19 is caused by a coronavirus, which was initially named 2019-novel Coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV. On February 12, 2020, International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses named the virus SARS-CoV-2, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2. The Committee determined that this coronavirus was the same species as SARS-CoV, the virus that caused a global outbreak of a respiratory illness in 2003, but a different strain, hence the designation “2”.

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html

Government / Industry Recommendations for Airborne Infection Control

CDC

Interim Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Patients with Confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) or Persons Under Investigation for COVID-19 in Healthcare Settings.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/infection-control/control-recommendations.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fhcp%2Finfection-control.html

CDC recommends the use of Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) as one of the effective technologies to minimize the spread of airborne microorganisms.

Implement Environmental Infection Control

Detailed information on environmental infection control in healthcare settings can be found in CDC’s Guidelines for Environmental Infection Control in Health-Care Facilities (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5210a1.htm) and Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Infectious Agents in Healthcare Settings [section IV.F. Care of the environment, https://www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/guidelines/isolation/index.html].
https://www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/pdf/guidelines/environmental-guidelines-P.pdf

ASHRAE Guidance

ASHRAE has developed proactive guidance ashrae.org/COVID19 to help address coronavirus concerns with respect to the operation and maintenance of HVAC systems. These include ASHRAE’s recently approved position document on airborne infectious diseases and links to the latest practical standards and guidelines.

ASHRAE recommends the following strategies of interest to address disease transmission: dilution ventilation, laminar and other in-room flow regimes, differential room pressurization, personalized ventilation, source capture ventilation, filtration (central or unitary), and UVGI (upper room, in-room, and in the airstream).

How Does UV Air Disinfection Help Combat Coronaviruses?

Coronavirus is highly susceptible to germicidal UV irradiation. The table below shows that the susceptibility of coronavirus to UV is greater than 3 times compared to the influenza (common cold) virus.

 

 

The HVAC systems in most non-medical buildings play only a small role in infectious disease transmission, including COVID-19.1 Knowledge is emerging about COVID-19, the virus that causes it (SARS-CoV-2), and how the disease spreads. Reasonable, but not certain, inferences about spread can be drawn from the SARS outbreak in 2003 (a virus genetically similar to SARS-CoV-2) and, to a lesser extent, from transmission of other viruses. Preliminary research has been recently released, due to the urgent need for information, but it is likely to take years to reach scientific consensus.

Even in the face of incomplete knowledge, it is critically important for all of us, especially those of us in positions of authority and influence, to exercise our collective responsibility to communicate and reinforce how personal choices about social distancing and hygiene affect the spread of this disease and its impact not just on ourselves, but on our societal systems and economy. The consequences of overwhelming the capacity of our healthcare systems are enormous and potentially tragic. The sooner we “flatten the curve,”2 the sooner we can return to safer and normal economic and personal lives.

According to the WHO (World Health Organization), “The COVID-19 virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes….” Talking and breathing can also release droplets and particles.3 Droplets generally fall to the ground or other surfaces in about 1 m (3 ft), while particles (aka aerosols), behave more like a gas and can travel through the air for longer distances, where they can transmit to people and also settle on surfaces. The virus can be picked up by hands that touch contaminated surfaces (called fomite transmission) or be re-entrained into the air when disturbed on surfaces.

SARS infected people over long distances in 2003,4 SARS-CoV-2 has been detected as an aerosol in hospitals,5 and there is evidence that at least some strains of it remain suspended and infectious for 3 hours,6 suggesting the possibility of aerosol transmission. However, other mechanisms of virus dissemination are likely to be more significant, namely,

• direct person to person contact
• indirect contact through inanimate objects like doorknobs
• through the hands to mucous membranes such as those in the nose, mouth and eyes
• droplets and possibly particles spread between people in close proximity.

For this reason, basic principles of social distancing (1 to 2 m or 3 to 6.5 ft), surface cleaning and disinfection, handwashing and other strategies of good hygiene are far more important than anything related to the HVAC system.7 In the middle-Atlantic region of the United States where I work, malls, museums, theaters, gyms and other places where groups of people gather are closed and there are “stay at home”8 orders. This is a “game” of chance, and the fewer individuals who come in close contact with each other, the lower the probability for spread of the disease. Since symptoms do not become apparent for days or weeks, each of us must behave as though we are infected.

Other public buildings, considered essential to varying degrees, remain open. These include food, hardware and drug stores, and of course, hospital and health-care facilities (which are beyond the scope of this article). Anecdotally, some universities are allowing some or all faculty, staff and graduate students to conduct essential research and online classes. Banks and other service organizations are open to staff and are receiving customers by appointment only, and private and government workplaces are open with work at home for some or all encouraged or mandated.

For those buildings that remain open, in addition to the policies described above, non-HVAC actions include:

• Increase disinfection of frequently touched surfaces.
• Install more hand sanitation dispensers, assuming they can be procured.
• Supervise or shut down food preparation and warming areas, including the office pantry and coffee station.
• Close or post warning signs at water fountains in favor of bottle filling stations and sinks, or even better, encourage employees to bring their water from home. Once the basics above are covered, a few actions related to HVAC systems are suggested, in case some spread of the virus can be affected:
• Increase outdoor air ventilation (use caution in highly polluted areas); with a lower population in the building, this increases the effective dilution ventilation per person.
• Disable demand-controlled ventilation (DCV). • Further open minimum outdoor air dampers, as high as 100%, thus eliminating recirculation (in the mild weather season, this need not affect thermal comfort or humidity, but clearly becomes more difficult in extreme weather).
• Improve central10 air filtration to the MERV-1311 or the highest compatible with the filter rack, and seal edges of the filter12 to limit bypass.
• Keep systems running longer hours, if possible 24/7, to enhance the two actions above.
• Consider portable room air cleaners with HEPA filters.
• Consider UVGI (ultraviolet germicidal irradiation), protecting occupants from radiation,13 particularly in high-risk spaces such as waiting rooms, prisons and shelters.

Construction sites present unique challenges. Much, but not all, construction work has the recommended social distancing; much, but not all, is outdoors or in partially enclosed and therefore well-ventilated buildings; and many, but not all, workers already use personal protective equipment such as masks14 and gloves. Governments in some locations have mandated closure of construction sites, while in others work proceeds.15 Engineers who perform field observations, commissioning or special inspections must consider what work can be postponed, performed remotely, or conducted using photographic documentation, and what personal precautions to take when site visitation is unavoidable.

If you, the reader, are called upon to advise building operators, please use the above general guidance, and be sure to combine it with knowledge of the specific HVAC system type in a building and the purpose and use of the facility. Like all hazards, risk can be reduced but not eliminated, so be sure to communicate the limitations of the HVAC system and our current state of knowledge about the virus and its spread.

We all have a role to play to control the spread of this disease. HVAC is part of it and even more significant are social distancing, hygiene and the influence we can have on personal behavior

Thanks to William P. Bahnfleth, Ph.D., P.E., Presidential Member/Fellow ASHRAE, Lew Harriman, Fellow ASHRAE, Yuguo Li, Ph.D., Fellow ASHRAE, Andrew K. Persily, Ph.D., Fellow ASHRAE, and Pawel Wargocki, Ph.D., Member ASHRAE for their review of preliminary drafts of this article. Any errors that remain are the author’s alone.