I’ve been keenly aware of this for most of my life. Indoor circulated air has always had adverse affects on me. My eyes burn, I get dizzy, my throat sometimes will swell. Many people in my circle of friends experience the same thing. We can’t spend much time in box stores and places without circulation. Also some people’s houses! Many people don’t open windows. I’ve had old roomates who lived in the most stale and smelly environment, never allowing air flow. I don’t understand why people don’t experience how unhealthy that is.

Turns out the air we breathe every day is pretty important, who knew? But seriously it's great that this important topic is getting the exposure it deserves.

I spent lots of time with my aunt in a rehab center this summer, and my portable CO2 meter was *always* over 3000 while there, which is insane (it should be under 750-800). None of the windows opened, the doors were always closed tight even on beautiful days. It was heartbreaking. In June the facility dropped their mask requirements for visitors, and what do you know-- their covid numbers spiked within a week for both patients and staff. (If you're not going to filter the building air, then filter your face. It's one or the other, and ideally both. But since masks have become so politicized, it's more of a reason to work on indoor air quality.)

omg Im a nurse and I 100% agree with his words - this was airborne from the beginning - everyone knew it and so many died bc of ignoring that…they didnt want to talk about it bc they didnt have enough airborne masks for us and it would have made them liable

I think proper indoor air quality can prevent quite a lot of health problems later in life.

Fun fact, it's required per code to have the ventilation fan running 24/7. However, AHJ's don't enforce it which is why the ventilation comes on and off with the thermostat.

Off topic, but Ruth Backland was my HS French teacher 40 years ago. She and her husband are wonderful people. One of my favorite teachers ever!

Never a bad idea to upgrade your home filter to a Merv 13 or higher

That engineer who retrofits hvac systems has such a cool job (pun intended)

Is it me or is this just common sense. All respiratory illnesses are transmitted by air.

Polluted toxic indoor air...yes.

There are a couple of things this guy is not talking about as far as the HVAC of existing buildings. As a 36 year licensed HVAC contractor this would be a massive and very expensive upgrade for an existing building. Increasing a buildings MERV filter rating is just a mask itself. The more air exchanges per hour an AHU-make up air unit- ventilation unit have to perform can be very expensive. To increase air exchanges per hour involves new or upgraded equipment and temperature conditioning of the new amounts of air entering a building. That would involve raising the total cooling or heating capacity of a building in order to condition the extra volumes of air. VERY EXPENSIVE! Something he didn’t even talk about is possibly adding Ultraviolet lighting into the AHU’s of a building. Unlike a paper filter that eventually gets saturated…..ultraviolet lighting kills the germs using a spectrum of light as the germs that WILL pass through any filter comes in contact with it. This is a cheaper and more efficient way to control airborne germs in existing building. Most building owners will not upgrade to systems unless pushed by the government. And then……you only think rent is high now in an office building. I do totally agree with him that indoor air quality always needs to be an issue for public health but, one way is not always the best for the same building situation.

I said this to my circle of friends back in 2020 and even made some social media posts about this. Furthermore, I also argued that Taiwan, which did really well, is hot and humid year around, so the use of AC is very common. The high humidity and frequent rain provided moisture particles for the virus to bind to and quickly drop to the ground because of gravity. Taiwan's early success was likely and largely due to this effect and that they were more compliant with mask. I am certain that if we go back and look at data, we will find environments with high natural or man-make air filtration effects had lower transmission rate. Vast parts of the US has very dry and Americans are very liberal with use of indoor heating, so the air is very dry and helped suspending the virus particles in the air. Anyway, we all need to get HEPA filters for our homes, and hopefully ones with ultraviolet light that disinfect the HEPA filter intakes or outlets.

What about airplanes? These are the most easy places of transmission, still are today!

This is a no brainer - they found that SARS spread through ventilation systems in 2018

Benjamin Franklin noted in the 1800’s that opening windows to improve air circulation reduced the transmission of the common cold. Meanwhile, our political establishment instituted arbitrary, blanket policies that led to loss of life, diminished quality of life, and an economic shutdown, the results of which are still not fully realised. The $33T national debt, coupled with large, entrenched annual deficits will have disastrous consequences for the future of our nation.

I have that air monitor that they show attached to the wall. It's called the AirThings View Plus and its totally awesome. It completely changed the way I think about air. Sleeping with my dog in my room and my window closed would have me wake up to a CO2 reading above 3000. No wonder I was feeling groggy in the morning! The 2.5ppm particle info is also super handy and I have since bought an air purifier. Life is pretty good now!

NY and NJ nursing homes were devastated as they were hit with the first wave in March 2020 where no one was masking. Some nursing homes lost 20 patients in a single week. A doctor told me he lost more patients in one month than his whole career. When that original Wuhan strain of the virus made its way to the Midwest cities their nursing homes were ready with medical grade masks and none of these cities were hit remotely as bad as NY and NJ. Even by time that the majority of seniors were fully vaccinated nationally nobody surpassed NY and NJ for nursing home terminal cases. And simply look at Japan and South Korea who are densely populated, have a large senior population, and no shortage of cancer patients (particularly stomach cancers). These two countries masked diligently as a matter of civic responsibility. They had fewer infections than mask shunning Florida had total terminal cases. And since their September 2023 surge in covid wastewater testing they were the only state on the eastern seaboard where a majority of the counties had covid hospitalizations well above the national average. Unsurprisingly as the Dean of Baylor Medical College noted recently the counties wifh the fewest vaccinated and boosted seniors were the very counties that were sticking out like a sore thumb for increased hospitalizations.

shocked they didn't mention the change to the airlines in the 1970's

Shows the ignorance of humanity when you don't get that germs circulate in the air.

Now if you can just get everyone (who didn’t learn from the pandemic or even believe it exists) to cover their mouth when they cough or sneeze. People don’t learn.

Remarkable!!! Only if cigar aficionados had this ground breaking technology!! Life saving & definitely worth the R&D investment!

Thank you for raising awareness about the importance of indoor air circulation. This is a very simple way to prevent the spread of all kinds of diseases that requires no action on behalf of the people inside of the building.

When I was vaping a lot it made me think differently abou the air around me. Vaping puts color to the air coming out of your lungs. It just hovers. It made me mindful of the air quality around me no matter where I'm at. Hopefully the pandemic makes it to where our air quality is better. I under stand lungs can clean themselves. But only up to a point. Breathing in silica dust is permanent. And that stuff is everywhere. When you sweep its bad. I try to wear masks when I sweep. And I bought a air filter/purifier for my apartment. I breathe in dust all day at work (I try not to, but it's next to impossible.) and when I'm at home it's my sanctuary.

This should be shown at public health officials all around the world. When it comes to indoor air quality, a revolution is coming!

What about students in schools?

Very informative and important; great job 60 Minutes!

This makes me sick. I'm an HVAC tech in a hospital and these are the standards that we have always maintained. While he was working from home and sheltering in place we were out there risking our health to ensure proper air quality. Just because he never thought of it doesn't mean that it hasn't been thought of. SMH

I acquired bacterial pneumonia at a restaurant with a poor air system in 2014. In 2020, someone that had felt sick for a few days ran into me and expelled hot breath in my face and gave me COVID-19 that lasted for nearly eleven months.

imagine if you published this back when we first learned it. instead of years later...

The caveate to this demo although very good is that multiple people were singing so if more than one choral member had covid it would be twice as bad but also what is not shown is that everyone in the room was inhaling then exhaling that infected air spreading it around the room even faster.

It will be better to open your windows rather than inhale someone's microbes.

"apparently, covid is airborne, more than 6 feet" -dr. genius LMAFO

If you're building a new house install an ERV with dedicated ducts.

These stories always have “Hollywood endings” flowers and sunshine smh! That guy needs to tell the truth! There’s a lot of businesses that CANNOT and WILL NOT ever make these important improvements for employee health

Please report on the significant deathrate increase since COVID. comparing 2019 deathrates to present. What are people dying of now?

Cant believe not once did they mention like air purifiers. I had a whole house air purifier installed in my home in 2021 during the pandemic, cuz i have medical conditions. Not gonna lie, its super expensive... mine was $1499 with lifetime warranty. I could tell a big difference in air quality. Its also more than just to protect against viruses.

Groundbreaking research from the University of Duh.

Timely.

I can't believe that everybody isn't thinking this way. I mean it's common sense. I remember in 2018 when I worked for a company. And I was in a room in the building called secure master banking room. There was no air filtration system in that room. When 1 person got sick, everybody the whole room all 32 people got sick.

You learn something every day. Very interesting report. I wonder how many businesses in America are going to penny pinch, or become forward thinkers & create more & more “healthy buildings?”

Wow, this is such an insightful post! Thank you for sharing this valuable information with us.

Great analysis +

There’s always a hot or cold spot in the buildings I’ve worked in. These are not old buildings (built w/in last 5 years) yet they can’t get HVAC to work so that people aren’t freezing or boiling up. Adding this layer of super filtration is great but if they still can’t get the basics down…It doesn’t help that an entire wall on the west-facing side bakes all afternoon; the HVAC doesn’t pivot with the changing heat build-up. The buildings are also built on Superfund toxic waste sites, which have residual TCE moving up from the ground into buildings. Constant 24/7 air circulation/filtration is required to avoid setting off alarms.

There is no way that a service industry where most Americans work will change anything about air handling because it would cost too much. The industry would rather hire another worker to take them places of those sick than fix the problem that got their workers sick

What about airplanes? They’ve always been petri dishes of bacteria. I think for a while there they tried to do some thing, but it cost too much money to cool down the air. Know anybody who takes a flight, takes a health risk.

Meanwhile you are standing almost on top of each other as you speak to one another....so much for air "quality"

Such an obvious solution. The only reason this doesn't happen is probably because it's expensive for people to implement.

This was obvious from the beginning.

I work the hvac coil cleaning business. You all have no idea how dirty these hvac units are 😂😂. Like omg its terrible

I was saying this since 2019 and people thought I was a total wacko....I'm so sick of normies, my whole life is plagued with their judgement.

Elementary classrooms!!

Imagine having this technology to vent humidity and toxic fumes from bathroom via negative pressure ducts in the ceiling?!

60 Minutes is still on TV?!?

Upgrade your home HVAC with a 2 inch thick filter system.

Put two HEPA air purifiers in my Dad's home, his breathing has now improved.

How have we made improvements in food quality? I really don’t think so.

This information is odd because many hospitals already exchange the air in hospitals. This isn't a surprise to Hospital Administrators.

But belief in surface spread created so many jobs. Scrubbing on the stairs railing, scrubbing the library shelves, scrubbing doorknobs. Round and round and round they go.

4:13 that’s not even close to what it looks like when you breath air,,,,there’s way better models of that clear looking air movement that shows how it looks when you exhale

MERV 13 is a fairly low standard. Surprised that’s considered state of the art.

Why can a colleague of mine in Canada not see this video?

Better late than never.

LOL. At least Amazon warehouse workers dont have to worry about the air they breathe.

They told us about this. They kept telling us, in the beginning 🤷🏽‍♀️

Ventilation Ventilation and Ventilation.

Felt like a combination of a hvac commercial and a commercial for Amazon career recruitment... Than a DUH covid segment...

People who ignore the obvious shouldn’t be treated like victims. Like why did the other 50 some people stay away? Because they knew better 😮

Here's the irony. People spent untold amounts of money on insulation making their buildings airtight reducing the need for heating and cooling Now apparently need to spend more money on bringing outside air back in. Plus the additional expense for the cooling/heating of that outside air they otherwise would not have.

Millions of lives.

But more air changes in a room means more energy consumption. The more people breathing also increases the co2 in the atmosphere which is killing the planet.

Now install trap doors under workers' desks who have BO or wear too much perfume/aftershave.

That's why people get sick on airplanes.

Stilll going to continue working from HOME

“Everyday of the year” but you sleep with the windows open “every night”. Not everynight? Everyweek? Everymonth?

8:17 dirty filters...lol

We also opened our windows as recommended since ancient romans 🤣 when a virus spreads you leave doors open, basic science

What are we supposed to do to keep the air in our homes healthy?

lol who says it was not airborne

How is this news???

they sing the way to heaven

Why don't we all just stop breathing??????

ASHRAE 62.1 62.1 ????????? It’s been there for a while …..

This is what Hrant Cardone was talking about

Mercury as pesticide☠️

Here comes 1000 dollar a month air filters.

No one in those building getting sick building syndrome

Oh, the arrogance of mankind. Mother Nature has been in charge long before we took our first steps. Mother Nature will still be in charge long after we are gone.

… airborne… duh. If only the people in power listened to “the science” instead of pharmaceutical $

Wow, who knew, monday morning quarterbacks are a thing?

Dear 60 Minutes: if you find this topic interesting, please investigate how Finland totally failed during the COVID-19 pandemic - our media and decision makers are so intertwined they will never initiate a real investigation on this issue themselves. On the contrary, they actually tried to diminish the credibility of people who were the best professionals if they happened to endorse the airborne transmission theory, probably one of the best examples is calling professor of pulmonary medicine, a head of the department at Helsinki University Hospital a "grassroots activist" in the context of COVID-19 article. This is truly bizarre. We should not be a third world country but when it comes to COVID, we seem to act like one.

Professor Allan's quite attractive

This was known I think in 2021. It's NOT new info!!

i like how that lady stuck a "probably" in her answer

This an example of everyone laughing at an original idea that was 20 years ago called living air classic . A great ozone air cleaner & venta air wash system the 2 are amazing but the got shut down for less expensive products & regulatory rhetoric.👎 we always seem to shoot ourselves in the foot when it comes to good products.

So the choir couldn’t have caught it when they left choir practice?? C’mon man!

Chlorine in water 🤔

Address airplanes

And the researchers have stock in the companies they recommend.. Cmon. We're hip to the game

I put liquid vape CBD’s in my indoor air system. Now I see space aliens in my backyard.