Published 9 hours ago

Submitted by Delos

The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund creates a valuable opportunity to help students and staff return to in-person learning. 

In March 2021, the Department of Education introduced the American Rescue Plan (ARP), allocating $122 billion of funding to provide emergency relief grants for K-12 schools. 

ESSER funds can be used by schools to cover a wide range of expenses to help prevent, prepare for, and respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. More specifically, these funds are available to improve the air quality in schools to help create healthier and safer environments for students, teachers and staff. 

Improving indoor air quality (IAQ) is a top priority for schools across the country as they continue their efforts to reduce the risk of Covid-19 and other respiratory infections among students, teachers and staff. However, it is important to note that the benefits of good indoor air quality extend far beyond that. This article aims to help school administrators understand what the ESSER Fund is, what it can be used for, and how it can help improve indoor air quality and create a healthier school environment. 

ESSER Funding For Healthier Learning Environments

The ESSER Fund provides emergency financial assistance to elementary and secondary schools to help address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.  

Adequate ventilation and air purification are key prevention strategies for helping to mitigate the spread of airborne infections, such as Covid-19. Improving indoor air quality can reduce the spread of airborne pathogens and help reduce allergens, dust particles and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in schools to help create healthier environments for students, educators and staff. Trusted by some of America’s largest school districts, Delos Advanced Air Purification solutions provide schools an opportunity to make an investment in the health and productivity of their students and staff without the disruptions, and oftentimes higher costs, associated with upgrading or renovating aging buildings and existing HVAC systems.

What Can Esser Funds Be Used For?

ESSER funds can be used to improve indoor air quality for schools in many ways, including, but not limited to:

• Inspection, testing and maintenance of current ventilation systems and approaches.
• Purchasing portable air purification units.
• Purchasing MERV-13 (or higher) filters for your HVAC system and ACs.
• Servicing or upgrading HVAC systems consistent with industry standards.
• Other spending that supports inspection, testing, maintenance, repair, replacement and upgrade of projects to improve the indoor air quality in school facilities, including mechanical and non-mechanical HVAC systems, filtering, purification and other air cleaning, fans, control systems, and window and door repair.

For additional information about the ESSER Funds and how they may be used, take a look at the ESSER Funds FAQs from the U.S. Department of Education.

All Delos Advanced Air Purification solutions (including filter replacements) qualify for ESSER funding and are available on the Delos Shop. For volume discounts, reach out to one of our Air Quality Specialists.

How Classroom Air Quality Affects Learning

Air quality isn’t just important for physical health. Growing evidence suggests that exposure to air pollution can negatively affect children’s neurodevelopment. Good indoor air quality, on the other hand, not only promotes a healthier learning environment at schools but also helps reduce absenteeism, improve test scores and increase student and staff productivity.

Unfortunately, many schools in the US have inadequate HVAC systems. According to a 2020 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported 41% of districts nationwide needed to update or replace heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in at least half of their schools, representing about 36,000 public schools (grades K-12) nationwide.

Delos makes improving your school air filtration system simple and easy. We offer best-in-class standalone solutions that:

• Reduce airborne pathogens and viruses and are capable of capturing and removing particles down to 0.007 microns at 99.99% aggregate efficiency.
• Are currently deployed in school districts representing over 3 million students across the U.S.
• Do not require upgrades or renovations to existing HVAC systems.
• Include models suitable for every room size, covering areas from 545 to 3,500 sq ft.
• Are easy to use, set up and maintain.
• Are in stock and ready to ship.

Improve Indoor Air Quality in Your School

ESSER funding can be used to purchase air purification technologies to help provide better indoor air quality in your school. Delos offers Advanced Air Purification solutions that help support healthier learning environments and are trusted by school districts across North America representing millions of students, educators and staff, including New York City and Chicago Public School Systems.

Delos specializes in indoor air quality solutions for public, private and charter schools. Speak with one of our Air Quality Experts to learn more about how you can use ESSER funding to help improve in-person learning and air quality in your school.

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Delos

Delos

As the pioneer of Wellness Real Estate™, Delos is transforming our homes, offices, schools, and other indoor environments by placing health and wellness at the center of design and construction decisions. Delos helps create spaces that actively contribute to human health, performance and well-being by marrying the best innovations in technology, health, science, and real estate. The Delos platform includes programming, design, consulting, research, and an array of innovative solutions and technologies designed to improve health and well-being. More information on Delos is available at www.delos.com. 

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Originally Appeared Here

Special to the Arizona Daily Star

At last week’s SAHBA Home Show, I presented “The Top 10 Things Homeowners Do Wrong.” If you missed the show or want to refresh your memory, here’s a summary of the presentation. Hopefully, there will be something here that you can use to save you some time and money.

1. Homeowners don’t always use licensed, bonded and insured contractors to get the job done. Looking for what they think is the best buy, they throw caution to the wind. This is not the time to be cutting corners for cost.

You wouldn’t go to a doctor or dentist who wasn’t licensed just to save a few bucks. Why would you not protect a huge investment like a home? By law, if a home improvement project is going to cost more than $1,000 including labor and materials, or a permit is required, a contractor is required to be licensed. Hiring someone who is licensed, bonded, and insured can protect you from potential disasters.

2. Homeowners don’t replace their air filters. I know you’ve heard this over and over, but it’s true. Most air filters should be replaced once a month. Clogged, overused filters leave the air dirtier and make your air conditioner work harder, even wearing out the overall lifespan. I recommend investing in pleated paper filters mounted in a cardboard frame (not spun fiberglass). Change them out every time you pay your mortgage.

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3. Homeowners flush items down the commode that they shouldn’t. Really, nothing should be flushed down the toilet that it wasn’t specifically designed for. Even Q-tips and cotton balls have been known to clog a few drains. Face tissues should always go in the trash can, not down the toilet. These, and many other items, are not easily biodegradable and can clog drain pipes. These problems can be especially troubling for those with a septic system.

4. Homeowners use too much soap. Despite what your grandmother used to tell you, you’re not that dirty. Using excessive amounts of soap in your clothes washer dulls your threads and shortens the life of your clothing. The solution is to run a washing machine cleaner through your washer once a month and cut back the amount of detergent you use. HASSAR, a Rosie-Certified-Partner suggests:

• Half of the recommended amount for a large dirty load.

• A quarter of the recommended amount for a large load that’s not as dirty.

• An eighth of the recommended amount for a medium to small load that’s not really dirty.

For the dishwasher, detergent matters. Do not use gel or liquid dishwasher soaps. Powder is better than liquid. One reason is that it’s easier to tell when you’re using too much. If the powder doesn’t completely dissolve, you used too much. Excess liquid detergent only creates a film residue that you probably won’t see.

HASSAR recommends Finish 3-in-1 Tabs. The cleanest dishes come when powdered detergent is used along with hot water and the sanitization settings on the dishwasher. Make sure your detergent door is in good working order to guarantee that the detergent is released at the proper time.

Use a small amount of LemiShine in the detergent holder, with Finish, to keep dishes sparkling. As little as a ¼ to a ½ tsp will do the trick.

5. Homeowners don’t keep their carpets properly cleaned. Did you know you should be vacuuming several times a week? This will keep dust, dirt and oils from settling into your carpet. An indoor air quality issue that may surprise you is that your vacuum cleaner is probably the single most polluting piece of equipment in your home.

It’s ironic that the more you vacuum, the dirtier your indoor air probably is, especially when you know many carpet manufacturers recommend daily vacuuming. The best solution for this source of indoor air pollution is to invest in a well-sealed HEPA filter vacuum.

6. Homeowners waste money getting their air ducts cleaned improperly. Duct cleaning is only one component of a proper system cleaning. It is extremely important that the return air ducts and/or plenum are thoroughly cleaned and checked for air leaks.

I have never inspected an air conditioning system that didn’t have some leaking. After sealing and cleaning the return air components, the evaporative coils in your air handler must be thoroughly cleaned. Some disassembly of your air conditioning unit is usually required and should only be completed by an air conditioning specialist.

This thorough cleaning and sealing of your return air, evaporative coils, air handler cabinet and supply registers should take two technicians at least half a day on an average-size home with one air conditioning system. Hence, the cost is generally twice what you see advertised by the discount duct cleaning “specialists.” However, when done correctly, this service only needs to be done every five to seven years.

7. Homeowners don’t do everything they can to make their homes energy efficient. Go through your home. Check every penetration on each exterior wall, door, sweep and weather stripping, windows, glides, rollers and electrical J-boxes. Doing these simple maintenance jobs can help you save money each month on your energy bills. Also, try super cooling. To stay cool and save money during the summer, make sure you are on the proper energy consumption plan with your utility company.

8. Homeowners use the wrong tools for projects. Using the wrong tool, or using the right tool improperly, can cause serious injuries. And, just because the tool is right for this job doesn’t mean it will be the right size or type for the next.

Sometimes, especially for experts, buying the right tool for the job is not cost-effective. For some projects, rental equipment is a better investment. Do a cost comparison between a particular piece of equipment against how much it would cost to rent it for six months.

9. Homeowners keep too much junk in their closets and garages. Get rid of anything you don’t need. Donate gently used items to charities to be used by others rather than stored in your closet. Also, consider installing features such as shoe racks, drawer systems, tie and belt racks, and jewelry trays to maximize space. Above all, do not rely on floor space or you will end up with another cluttered mess in no time.

10. Homeowners don’t keep safety first. Is your home ready for a disaster? Fire extinguishers should be in every home. There are four classes of extinguishers, one for different types of fires. The fire department has an easy way to remember these distinctions:

• Class A – Ashes (wood, paper, cloth … anything leaving ash when burnt)
• Class B – Barrels (gasoline, grease, oil, paint)
• Class C – Current (electrical fires with wires, fuse boxes)
• Class D – Don’t Get Involved (metal fires — leave it to the professionals)

If disaster strikes, accurate documentation is needed to guarantee the replacement of your belongings. The five steps listed below are just part of a researched and tested system for documenting and protecting the value of your home and possessions in case of loss:

1. Photographs and videos
2. Identification of photos for cross-referencing
3. Inventory sheets and cards
4. Receipts and other documentation
5. Safe storage of records in a fire-proof location

Mark your calendars for the weekend of Sept. 30–Oct. 2 for the next SAHBA Home Show and catch the next presentation.

An Arizona home building and remodeling industry expert since 1988, Rosie Romero is the host of the syndicated Saturday morning Rosie on the House radio broadcast, heard locally from 10 to 11 a.m. on KNST (790-AM) in Tucson and from 8 to 11 a.m. on KGVY (1080-AM) and (100.7-FM) in Green Valley.

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Originally Appeared Here

April 14, 2022 | 12:07 PM

Is Philadelphia’s criteria for precautions too sensitive? Or, is the city setting a model for the rest of the country?

• Nina Feldman/WHYY

  Nina Feldman covers behavioral health for WHYY. She grew up in Ann Arbor Michigan, but before coming to Philadelphia she lived in New Orleans, where she worked at American Routes and contributed to the NPR affiliate WWNO. She likes to understand neighborhoods, watch friends do what they’re good at, and be underwater. She also started the New Orleans Ladies Arm Wrestling league, or NO LAW.

Matt Slocum / AP Photo

A man wearing a face mask bicycles along Broad Street, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020, in Philadelphia.

Earlier this week, Philadelphia became the first major city in the country to reinstate an indoor mask mandate. Many local residents — and even some public health experts — questioned the decision, since COVID-19 case rates in the city are still lower than or similar to many neighboring areas that have not yet brought back similar precautions.

But the decision wasn’t much of a decision at all — it was automatically triggered once case rates surpassed the threshold outlined in Philly’s risk measurement system, which the city’s public health department calls its “Response Levels.”

Is Philadelphia’s criteria for precautions too sensitive? Or, is the city setting a model for the rest of the country?

How Philly’s response system stacks up against the CDC’s

Philadelphia’s indoor mask mandate goes into effect on Monday, April 18, and will apply to restaurants, gyms, offices, and schools. Establishments can choose to require proof of vaccination in lieu of masking.

Philly’s system for measuring COVID risk has four categories, ranging from “All Clear” to “Extreme Caution.” As case rates and hospitalizations rise, more precautions are triggered.

Philly’s system is stricter than the one developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was released in late February. The CDC’s system doesn’t recommend masks until its highest risk level, and it uses hospitalizations, more than cases, to measure that risk.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky explained the shift from cases to hospitalizations by saying that the main goal now was to prevent serious illness, death, and a strain on our nation’s health care systems, making hospital capacity the most important thing to keep an eye on.

However, many experts question whether that should be the only goal from a public health perspective, and say that it’s still important to count cases. Since hospitalizations can lag weeks behind rising case counts, they’re not a helpful tool to get out ahead of a wave and prevent more infections.

“It’s like instead of using a weather forecast, it’s just putting a bucket out and seeing how much rain is in it,” said epidemiologist Michael Levy, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

He argued that Philadelphia’s stress on case counts is important to prevent transmission. The city’s number of COVID cases is likely a vast undercount, considering that many residents are testing positive at home.

And there are important reasons to prevent the spread of infection. There’s still a lot we don’t know about how COVID interacts with other diseases, or its long term effects. Plus, argues Abraar Karan, an infectious disease physician at Stanford, the public’s idea of what constitutes an “acceptable” level of disease might be skewed. We don’t want to be in the habit of tolerating so much illness, he said.

“We are so traumatized by early 2020 and mid-2020 that our standard for what we are deeming acceptable or successful, I think, is still too low,” he said.

Flexibility vs. transparency

Levy acknowledged that Philadelphia’s decision to create a tiered “Response Level” system came from a place of wanting to provide clarity. But, he said, the automated system — and similar ones like it — removes the ability for public health officials to exercise their judgment. He said he thought color-coded risk systems were usually failures, citing both the terrorism alert tiers developed after the September 11 attacks, as well as Pennsylvania’s color-coded pandemic reopening system.

Both systems fell victim to typical pitfalls of automated schematics, said Levy. In the case of the terrorism advisory system, the country was on high alert for so long, that the designation became meaningless. And in the case of Pennnsylvania’s reopening code, the goal posts for when the counties would qualify as “yellow” or “green” kept changing.

“It’s easy to paint yourself into a corner, and that’s something that I think everyone’s trying to avoid,” he said

Levy said he preferred relying on the expertise and clear communication of health officials, the same way you would for a weather forecaster. He gave the example of a snow day — a designation that has no specific set of metrics attached to it.

“It’s always kind of a bit of a judgment call based on forecast and based on the actual accumulation,” he said. “The combination of a bit of expertise and a lot of common sense.”

But Jennifer Kolker, a professor of health management at Drexel University, said people are sick of relying on the word of public health officials, and have reason to be distrustful after two years of death and disease. She said having a clear and consistent system is good for engendering public trust.

“Public health needs to be credible and the way you achieve credibility in large part is through transparency and trust,” she said. “People want to know ‘why.’ So, simply saying, ‘Oh yeah, a bunch of talking heads got in a room and we decided masks on, or masks off,’ that pisses people off, and for good reason,” Kolker said.

For its part, the city claims its  “Response Levels” can be both clear and responsive.

“Rather than picking an arbitrary date to start or end mandates, we chose a responsive system that allows our response to be only as strict as it needs to be, but not unsafe,” wrote James Garrow, a spokesperson for the city’s health department, in an email. “Because the pandemic has proven to be so unpredictable, this system allows the city to adjust its protection levels in real time as the virus surges and falls.”

The three experts stressed that there is no perfect point for a city or state to reinstate precautionary measures during this pandemic — it’s always a bit of a guess and a moving target. But the longer you wait, the less successful they’re likely to be at preventing a surge of infections.

The tricky thing about prevention measures is that it’s hard to show that they have worked, because you’re measuring something that didn’t happen. And it can be hard for health officials to make the inconvenient things they are asking people to do feel worth it, when all they have to show for it is a less bad outcome.

“Public health’s job is to protect the public’s health in the least restrictive ways possible,” said Kolker. “We don’t lock people up with tuberculosis anymore, right? We used to just lock people up, then you’d have no spread, but then we realized you can’t just do that. So we come up with other ways.”

Kolker and Karaan both agreed that in theory, masks are an individual-level intervention that ideally would be reserved as a last resort. But absent comprehensive infrastructure solutions, such as enhanced ventilation systems in all buildings and ways to measure indoor air quality, those individual-level solutions are what we’re left with.

And until we have those engineering technologies better developed, along with easily accessible COVID treatments and a better understanding of the long-term effects of the disease, the experts said that masking indoors when cases rise shouldn’t be too much to ask to protect the public.

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Originally Appeared Here

ndoor air quality in working places is important because of its direct relationship with people’s health and productivity.

Occupational health and safety is important in every aspect of our business life. An office is the space where organisational activities are carried out to manage a business or a service. Occupational health and safety should be optimised in the office environment as well as in the field environment. The fact that employees in the office environment spend their work lives both efficiently and safely increases both the profitability and efficiency of the company. For this reason, occupational health and safety in office life is important in all respects. Ergonomics investigates the relationship of the worker with his job, work tools and work environment. With the right ergonomics work, we can prevent potential hazards that we can avoid with simple precautions in the office environment.

Simple adjustments to the work environment and habits will greatly increase one’s comfort and productivity. Occupational health and safety is provided in the offices by considering the risk factors of ergonomics. Goals of ergonomics; To increase the efficiency of the employees, to avoid unnecessary and excessive coercion, to organise the work in a methodical way, to prevent unnecessary activities, to ensure human-machine-environment harmony.

Office life should be handled in terms of occupational diseases and work accidents. Occupational health and safety in office life is very important. The fact that the occupational accidents in the offices are lower than the accidents in the construction, metal and mining sectors reduces the shift of interest in this direction. However, occupational health and safety measures should be examined in offices, since work accidents should not be small or big, but human health should be the basis. The increase in occupational diseases occurring in offices, especially in recent years, shows the importance of this issue.

Ergonomic risk factors

• environmental factors: It is an extra burden for employees. It is necessary to recognise these factors in order not to reduce work performance and not to harm health, and to know the physiological responses of the organism when these factors are at a normal or excessive level.
• noise: They are not large enough to cause physiological or psychological damage in office life, but care should be taken in industrial environments.
• thermal factors: Indoor air quality in working places is important because of its direct relationship with people’s health and productivity. In this respect, it is extremely important to provide thermal comfort in offices where employees spend at least eight hours a day. Indoor temperature is the most important parameter among the thermal comfort conditions. The indoor temperature should be at a level where people feel comfortable, depending on the winter and summer conditions.
• lighting
• chemicals
• plants

Physical Factors

1. Buildings
2. Display Tools
3. Recurring Jobs
4. Inappropriate Postures
5. Static Postures

Psychological factors

1. Employee factors
2. Factors resulting from the structure of the job
3. Factors originating from the structure of the business

   Photo by Brittany Colette on Unsplash

Office diseases are also a threat in terms of occupational health and safety in the office. Office diseases are a group of multi-systemic diseases caused by constantly staying in the same position, repetitive movements, working with devices with screens and keyboards, overloading the wrist and fingers, unsuitability of the environment in terms of heat, humidity, light and comfort. Office diseases; musculoskeletal system diseases, circulatory system diseases, allergic diseases, psychological diseases.

Employees may not always realise that they are injured due to the non-ergonomic environments in which they work in the office. Because these injuries can happen to most people in daily life. It is often noticed when these injuries increase in size. Office workers also have the right to claim compensation for their injuries. We recommend that you contact personal injury lawyers in Sydney to complete the compensation claim.

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Originally Appeared Here