Cleaning Surfaces vs Cleaning the Air – which is more important?
At the beginning of the pandemic, the focus was on cleaning surfaces – deep cleans, moving excess stuff out of the bodywork space, wiping every surface between clients. Massage therapists diligently followed that advice when we reopened. But how helpful was all that cleaning of surfaces?
It Was and Is certainly worthwhile to do all that cleaning. But not at the expense of cleaning the air. Most studies worldwide have now shown that the coronavirus is primarily communicated through the air – by larger “droplets” and micro-particles called “aerosols”. They’re both made of the same stuff, just different sizes.
Dr. Emanuel Goldman, a microbiologist at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, found that there would have to be a massive amount of virus particles on a surface you touch (and then you’d have to wipe your hand directly on your mouth or nose) in order to get the virus that way. (The Lancet medical journal, July 2020)
You’ve experienced droplets whenever listening to someone talk, joke, or laugh, and you see or feel those little droplets in the air or on your person. Disgusting, right? But you didn’t pay too much attention to it. Back then, it was just a gross annoyance. Now, it can be fatal.
However, you don’t see aerosols at all. When a person talks, laughs, or especially coughs, they can spew out from 900 to 300,000 of these invisible microscopic liquid particles. And they can linger in the air for up to 8 hours in a stuffy room without good ventilation. Or up to 3 hours in a room with average ventilation. They are generally between .7 to 10 microns in size – that’s really small!
The key is ventilation. Good air filtration cleans the air and “exchanges” (or replaces) the air in the room several times an hour. Up to nine times an hour is now recommended for clinical environments. Lots of therapists have invested in air filters, especially since the pandemic hit. However, not all air filters are equal.
The best form of air filter is a HEPA filter – a high-efficiency particulate air filter – that uses a strong fan to circulate or “exchange” the air. Most HEPA filters remove nearly 100% of particulates from the air, including viruses, bacteria, and mold.
The HEPA filter I use in my office is from Honeywell. It removes 99.97% of such microscopic particles. It has a strong, multi-speed fan, and it exchanges the air five times an hour. The one I purchased is designed for a space nearly twice as large as my office, so that it can exchange the air more frequently.
Other types of air filtration and circulation can be very useful. However, they are not as effective or as efficient as a good HEPA filter with good air circulation capability. I know there are lots of other adequate filters out there, but unfortunately adequate may not be good enough with regard to covid.
I’ve been using HEPA filters in my office and in my bedroom at home for many years. But I upgraded to my current unit last Spring to get a little more muscle into the air filtration. I also keep my air filter just a few feet from the head of my bodywork table, so that it has a better chance of catching those aerosols. Even just breathing can spew out aerosols!
Of course, my client and I both wear masks. All the time!! I realize that some therapists live in rural areas, where there have not been very many covid cases, and they don’t feel like they or their client need to wear a mask. However, that appears to be changing dramatically all around the country. Even counties that had zero cases a few months ago are seeing a rise in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.
Think of the aerosol issue in terms of smoking. (If you’re a smoker, you may or may not get the analogy.) If you’re in a room with a smoker, as soon as they exhale you can smell the smoke, especially if you’re right next to them. If you’re six feet away, it’s not as bad, but you can still smell it, especially if the air in the room is stagnant. Further away is even better.
But if you both wear good masks, and the air is getting filtered 5 to 9 times an hour, then it’s almost bearable. (Come to think of it, if a smoker had to wear a mask during exhalation, that might give them another reason to quit!)
In terms of the virus, you might still want to clean out your nasal passages after being in a room with clients. For that, you can see some options I mention in a previous post on this site: Safe Practices for Bodywork – Travel – and More.
I know that some people believe the ridiculousness on social and other media saying that masks don’t matter. But they do! There are more than enough scientific studies proving this. They’re easy to find if you’re willing to have an open mind and distinguish between fact and fiction.
The hospitals and graveyards are filled with hundreds of thousands of people who thought they weren’t going to get the virus or that it wasn’t “real” – just fake news. More importantly, the people that communicated the virus to them often thought the same thing. Be discriminating with what you read and what you believe. Follow the science, not the talking heads. They often have an agenda, and your optimal health and wellbeing are not it.
Of course, keep wiping surfaces and doing those deep cleans. But make sure you’ve got excellent air filtration in your workspace – filtration that guarantees filtering nearly 100% of microparticles and circulates the air enough to exchange the air several times an hour.
I’ll include some resources below for you, if you want to read more about this. In the meantime, I hope you and your family will enjoy the Thanksgiving season in the healthiest way possible. Be safe. Wear masks in public. Social distance. Stay outside while visiting if you can.
Let me know what you think of this post.
As always, if you’re looking for excellent online CE courses that include professionally produced training videos, check out the Ray of Light Training online classes here:
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Stay well, John
Ray of Light Training
Member of the Fascia Research Society
John J. Ray is a Board Approved Continuing Education Provider through the NCBTMB
References:
How a Focus on Cleaning Surfaces Can Distract from Actual Virus Spread
Research shows coronavirus spreads primarily through air. Here’s how to reduce risk