It fills me with rage that we could've spent the last 5yrs overhauling indoor ventilation and just...didn't. Like, it's good for capitalism! Even if that's allll you care about, healthy people are more productive workers! And people don't have to take as much time off work if their kids are healthy!
Absolutely! I really thought this might happen in early 2021. The return on investment would be huge. It could lead to better educational outcomes (lower CO2) on top of reducing absences, illness, spread of diseases.
And surprise! Covid does brain damage which also lowers ed outcomes long term! It isn't just sick days! Siiiigh
My kid started school Tuesday and we already have early dismissal for heat today. If they'd invested in hvac not only would kids miss less school sick but they'd have AC to deal w hotter weather that's normal now. There is literally no downside to improving indoor air quality.
Me and my students were fully masked in 20/21, and it was my first year of teaching where I didn't get sick at all! Not even sniffles! Improving ventilation in schools would solve so many issues with sub shortages and absenteeism!
bsky.app/profile/crfo...
They need us desperate and afraid more than they need us productive.
And they did improve ventilation in 1918 on account of the Spanish Flu. To not do so again is madness. I share your rage.
Yeah but weirdly, every party that's lauded by the (complicit) media as "for the economy" "productivity" etc... actually isn't. But people believe the lies anyway. Well. Nowadays their rhetoric is all about "kicking out the foreigners", which ALSO hurts the economy 🤷🏻
Because the people controlling the purse strings want a world of haves and have nots, and to spend the absolute minimum on the have nots, even if spending a little more made everyone richer.
I mean, that's the thing; they can't cum unless we're suffering.
I work for 15 years and a metal shop in Las Vegas. In the summer it was over 90° in the shop, and two of the five swamp coolers were broken. With all five working, the temperature dropped to the mid 80s and productivity increased significantly. Using some conservative estimates I put together
a return on investment proposal showing that increased productivity would pay for the repairs in less than a month, but management still refused to invest. It's amazing how many people in power, in all levels of society, are unable to make the correct decision when presented with an easy choice.
I have been mystified why there hasn’t been one group - a country, a county, a school board, whatever - that stepped up and said, “ok, we’re going to do it up right, clean the air, keep people healthy, show the world how it’s done.”
Like, in my house, we clean the air now, and we no longer give each other our illnesses. The difference is palpable and fantastic. Why wouldn’t one overseer of shared public spaces not want to be the leader in reaping those benefits?
How do you clean the air in your house? (Legitimately asking)
In my house when we got a new furnace (pre covid but i have dust allergies) we got a whole house filter. We also have point hepa filters in bedrooms and living areas for the many times we don't run the hvac.
HEPA filters on each floor, plus a couple of smaller HEPAs we activate in individual bedrooms when someone is sick. Windows open as much as possible, especially when the kids have sleepovers. Filters are quiet and low maintenance.
Because America doesn't solve problems anymore. I'm honestly not kidding. 4 decades of small government conservatism has led to a massive crisis of confidence in America. Can you imagine building the national weather service or interstate highway system today?
Yes! Our district had COVID $ and they used it to offer anyone who wanted it free programming for their kids? Maybe they did ventilation too but I didn’t hear about it. Even purchasing one good air filter per classroom would be an improvement, never mind retooling the entire ventilation system.
It's also a massive blue-collar jobs program to upgrade everything. I understand why this government isn't doing it, but I really don't understand why upgrading HVAC wasn't slipped into Biden's infrastructure bill.
Or maybe it was? I don't know everything in that bill, and as I understand it a lot of the effects were to start hitting after Biden's term ended, so maybe there were building upgrades that got DOGE-cancelled that we didn't hear about.
Something interesting and very telling that I’ve noticed as I walk around with an Aranet4: some big chains have quietly started doing this. Like, a Dunkin near me shut down for renovations recently. When they reopened with grayer and plainer decor, their CO2 levels were suddenly outdoor-quality.
You can get more accurate information about long Covid in business publications, because a lot of business people are starting to figure out they’re losing money when they infect their employees over and over again, slowly disabling them.
Upgrading ventilation, if they have the money, is a way to quietly guard against this without alienating anti-maskers. It’s invisible, and unless you’re carrying an Aranet4 around in your purse, checking the air quality of different stores, you’ll probably never notice.
Lowe’s movie theatres upgraded their ventilation systems very early on in the pandemic, and even bragged about it at the time! Because people were scared to go to the movies, and their survival as a business depended on it. Now, silence. But my Aranet4 says their filters are still working.
Of course, these are big chains with lots of money. They can’t upgrade the ventilation systems of schools or hospitals or public transit — the places we need it most. That would be up to the government, so obviously that’s a no-go. 😒
bsky.app/profile/crfo...
Interestingly, casinos in Las Vegas have excellent ventilation systems, presumably because it pays off.
Probably helps clear out all the cigarette smoke, too.
Exactly!
Repeat Covid infections have also been suspected to lower IQ. Dumb down the plebs and make them weak to power 👍🏻 theconversation.com/mounting-res...
I can only conclude that the people in charge of almost everything are just deeply, deeply selfish and stupid, across the board.
Its like we're run by some kind of CEO death cult
Yep. This is neolib/con "fiscal Republican" small gov NPM utter stupidity and contraproductivity. Its the Devil in disguise. And we have allowed it into hegemony, since no party challenges it.
If they could be swayed by that kind of logic we’d have universal 1yr maternity and paternity leave
Logic seems an unknown concept to some.
An enduring theme since the 80’s has been that capitalists are too stupid to perform capitalism correctly.
Yeah, this. A sensible timeline would've decided in late 2020 that HEPA ventilation is now just a standard feature of all (at least public) buildings, like electricity, water, sewage and internet.
It doesn't happen because despite its PR capitalism is not actually a rational system, and therefore doesn't do things in its own best interest. The markets are not rational and don't consist of rational actors, and the owner class isn't rational either.
Right???
Investing in the commons is for sissies. This is America, where taxes are for tanks and agribusiness subsidies.
It seems like the most common sense thing to do, and yet...
Spending money on schools is socialism and that's wrong ok, the only time we spend govt money it's on stuff that matters like defence contractors hmmmkay
The library I am at updated the ventilation with Covid response dollars, while the rest of the city did not. On smoky days, or days when the stink from a nearby plant drifts through town, or when everyone is sick, they all get jealous of the clean, not-stinky air we enjoy here. 🤷♀️😷😏
There was way too much covid response money for our small town officials (as well as numerous wealthy CEO’s) to just overtly steal 🤷🏽♀️