Aerosols, Fomites and Air Quality: What research says about the impact of cleaning on health

Webinar #1: Environmental Persistence and Transmissibility of Respiratory Viruses: A Laboratory Perspective 

By Karen Kormuth, Ph.D. Bethany College

April 15 at 1:00 PM EDT 

Understanding mechanisms of virus transmission is critical to developing guidance for cleaning and day-to-day activities, but this is not a trivial problem. The relative contributions of aerosol and fomite transmission of respiratory viruses are difficult to determine, and can be influenced by a variety of viral, host and environmental factors. 

Using lessons learned from influenza, this webinar will describe laboratory approaches to understanding environmental persistence of viruses both in the air and on surfaces, including caveats of various experimental approaches. Looking ahead, “cleaning for health” should not be constrained to combat only one mode of transmission, but rather should be molded to suit this complex problem.

Webinar #2: Surface Cleaning, Air Cleaning, and Indoor Air Quality: Expect the Unexpected

By Douglas B. Collins, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Bucknell University

May 26 - 1:00 PM EDT

Indoor air quality is associated with a range of health outcomes for building occupants. The composition of indoor air is governed by the building's environmental surroundings, structural and material features of the building, air handling, and the activities that take place within. From a chemical perspective, the composition of air in a building can change rapidly in response to a change in any one of the aforementioned factors. 

In this presentation, Prof. Collins will focus on how surface and air cleaning methods can bring about unintended consequences for indoor air. Since nearly every action we take in a building can have a downstream effect on the indoor environment, it is important to consider both the direct and indirect effects of our actions on indoor air. Despite our best intentions to maintain healthy indoor environments, we need to expect that we will come to find perhaps unexpected air quality outcomes resulting from our actions.

WEBINAR #3: What’s in Your Cleaner and Why Should You Care?

By Kerry Kinney, Ph.D. and Pawel Misztal, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin 

June 24 at 2:00 PM EDT

Indoor cleaning activities are an essential part of our daily routine to maintain clean surfaces and prevent the spread of infectious agents. The use of broad-spectrum disinfectants has increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic but selecting the best cleaner from the large array of possibilities can be difficult. The optimal cleaner should not only be effective for its intended purpose but it should also not generate harmful byproducts or accumulate in the indoor environment. It can be challenging to determine which cleaning agents are most appropriate for different cleaning scenarios and how the main ingredients, additives and byproducts may affect indoor air quality.  

Another question is what are the long-term fates of these products in the indoor environment?  Some cleaning approaches include reactive, short-lived oxidants such as hypochlorite or hydrogen peroxide, while others use long-lived surfactants such as quaternary ammonium compounds (aka the quats). One important characteristic of the built environment is the high surface-to-volume ratio, which means that reactions of cleaners on surfaces may lead to an accumulation of secondary byproducts in the air if the space is not properly ventilated. With the recent advances in molecular biology technologies, it is possible to assess the efficacy of cleaners for bacteria, fungi and viruses. Similarly, new state-of-the-art analytical instruments now make it possible to quantify the real-time chemical composition of cleaning agents as well as the primary and secondary compounds generated from indoor cleaning practices. Collecting this type of data can be used to help guide the selection of the most appropriate and environmentally-friendly cleaners for a wide-range of applications.