How to Improve Indoor Air Quality at Places of Assembly

COVID-19 will certainly change the way we all feel about places of assembly.  Whether it’s our favorite breakfast café or the movies or our local Church, a return to standing-room-only events will certainly at least feel weird given how social distancing has been hammered home recently to all.

While direct contact will continue to be the #1 transmission source, indoor air quality is also a significant concern on the question of sharing viruses of all types.  Here is what we can and should do to make our places of assembly as healthy as possible:

1. Frequent cleaning of all commonly touched surfaces (handrails, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, pews, etc.)
2. Provide improved access and reduce doors that need to be operated (ex. hold interior doors of a narthex open, hold exterior doors open during weather that allows it);
3. Maximize natural ventilation. Fresh air moving by cross-ventilation is typically the fastest way to help minimize the threat of sharing viruses.  Pollen may be a challenge to some, but surely we can all agree it is far better to have an allergy challenge than to catch a potentially deadly virus!

In many places of assembly, particularly Churches, we have put in many ductless mini-split air conditioning systems over the last 20 years.  These systems are great because they are very efficient at cooling spaces at a low cost.  Unfortunately, they also do a great job at recirculating germs.

When professionally designed according to current Building Codes, modern HVAC systems introduce fresh air from the exterior and exhaust stale (germ contaminated) air from the interior.   Energy Efficiency Codes require that we recover some of the energy from exhaust air to “temper” the incoming air.  These features are often “Built In” to modern RTUs (Roof Top Units) which is why these systems are so popular.

So, the challenge for all “Places of Assembly” facility managers during this transition back to normal activities is to become familiar with your specific building and to understand how to best manage it for maximizing air quality.

As an example, if your Church has a ductless mini-split air conditioning system and the Sunday forecast is for highs of 70 degrees and sun, that’s a great morning to open the windows and doors to let the fresh air cleanse the Church rather than turn on those germ-recirculating air conditioners.

Conversely, if your movie theatre has modern Roof Top Units with modern economizers, you should have your service technician confirm they are set to maximum fresh air intake during this time when COVID-19 continues to be present.

Give us a call and let us coach you through how best to manage your facility to keep the air as virus free as possible!