Howard County remote until April 2021.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. But they said they did that over the summer. Here is Monday's meeting - HVAC is addressed around 1:50. They have gone over these things at multiple meetings. What else needs to be done?

https://hcpsstv.new.swagit.com/videos/112023

That section started with on Board member asking whether small groups that are in small enclosed spaces without a lot of ventillation will have access to larger spaces like gyms or cafeterias in order to be in better ventillated spaces. The concern is that smaller spaces with less room to space kids out are more likely to be transmission vectors even with masking. When you cannot space further out, and when there is more shared atmosphere with less ventillation, the risk of transmission increases, even with masking going on.

The person who responded reiterated that the school ventillation systems have been updated to include the higher rated filters and that they have made additional improvements to the HVAC systems in order to minimize the risk of transmission due to poor ventillation. The idea is to increase air circulation so that any virus that may be released is more likely to be pulled into intake vents and less likely to stay and float around in less well ventillated spaces. It doesn't really address the concern (smaller enclosed spaces with less than 6 feet separation for children and staff), but says that they have done what they could to minimize the effect of shared atmosphere.

It's what the engineers could do, but the schools need to find a better way to handle these situations. Frankly, even allowing teachers to hold some sessions out in the hallway would be better than some of the smaller rooms in the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. But they said they did that over the summer. Here is Monday's meeting - HVAC is addressed around 1:50. They have gone over these things at multiple meetings. What else needs to be done?

https://hcpsstv.new.swagit.com/videos/112023

That section started with on Board member asking whether small groups that are in small enclosed spaces without a lot of ventillation will have access to larger spaces like gyms or cafeterias in order to be in better ventillated spaces. The concern is that smaller spaces with less room to space kids out are more likely to be transmission vectors even with masking. When you cannot space further out, and when there is more shared atmosphere with less ventillation, the risk of transmission increases, even with masking going on.

The person who responded reiterated that the school ventillation systems have been updated to include the higher rated filters and that they have made additional improvements to the HVAC systems in order to minimize the risk of transmission due to poor ventillation. The idea is to increase air circulation so that any virus that may be released is more likely to be pulled into intake vents and less likely to stay and float around in less well ventillated spaces. It doesn't really address the concern (smaller enclosed spaces with less than 6 feet separation for children and staff), but says that they have done what they could to minimize the effect of shared atmosphere.

It's what the engineers could do, but the schools need to find a better way to handle these situations. Frankly, even allowing teachers to hold some sessions out in the hallway would be better than some of the smaller rooms in the school.

I still don't hear that there's anything wrong with the ventilation, other than concern about using small rooms that make social distancing difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. But they said they did that over the summer. Here is Monday's meeting - HVAC is addressed around 1:50. They have gone over these things at multiple meetings. What else needs to be done?

https://hcpsstv.new.swagit.com/videos/112023

That section started with on Board member asking whether small groups that are in small enclosed spaces without a lot of ventillation will have access to larger spaces like gyms or cafeterias in order to be in better ventillated spaces. The concern is that smaller spaces with less room to space kids out are more likely to be transmission vectors even with masking. When you cannot space further out, and when there is more shared atmosphere with less ventillation, the risk of transmission increases, even with masking going on.

The person who responded reiterated that the school ventillation systems have been updated to include the higher rated filters and that they have made additional improvements to the HVAC systems in order to minimize the risk of transmission due to poor ventillation. The idea is to increase air circulation so that any virus that may be released is more likely to be pulled into intake vents and less likely to stay and float around in less well ventillated spaces. It doesn't really address the concern (smaller enclosed spaces with less than 6 feet separation for children and staff), but says that they have done what they could to minimize the effect of shared atmosphere.

It's what the engineers could do, but the schools need to find a better way to handle these situations. Frankly, even allowing teachers to hold some sessions out in the hallway would be better than some of the smaller rooms in the school.

I still don't hear that there's anything wrong with the ventilation, other than concern about using small rooms that make social distancing difficult.

There isn't. The board member made a comment about small groups that meet in small rooms and whether any allowance would be made for the small groups to move to larger spaces.

The person who replied made a tangential reply and was the one to mention the improvements to the HVAC and ventillation. He chose to reply to a different question than he was asked.