Dive into the science of “Airborne infection risks assessment tools: applications during COVID-19 and beyond”, with Alexander Mikszewski. Don’t miss this vital discussion on keeping our classrooms safe and healthy by joining the conversation in the comments on YouTube.
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Alex Mikszewski has a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and a MS in Environmental Engineering & Science from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. He has 19 years of diverse professional experience in environmental engineering, risk assessment, facilities management and sustainability. From his time as an energy and engineering manager at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he obtained expertise in energy-efficient temperature and humidity control strategies for preservation of art and cultural artifacts. He is unique in being a licensed professional engineer, a certified energy manager, and a licensed refrigerating system operating engineer. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Alex served on a building ventilation task force for New York City Government buildings to help inform re-opening best practices and strategies.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the urgent need for risk-based guidelines and quantitative tools to manage indoor occupancy and help minimize the airborne transmission of respiratory tract infection. Without official airborne risk assessment guidelines from environmental protection and/or occupational health regulatory bodies, a number of building science, public health, and engineering researchers and professionals developed spreadsheet or web-based risk assessment tools and placed them in the public domain to support the international response to the pandemic. This includes the Airborne Infection Risk Calculator (AIRC) developed by the International Laboratory for Air Quality & Health (ILAQH) in June 2020, with subsequent updates in 2021. This presentation will provide an overview of the AIRC tool and describe applications during the COVID-19 pandemic by both the academic and professional communities. Perspectives will be shared on the strengths and limitations of the AIRC and related tools, and identify future research directions and necessary public health policy advancements.
