April 2022, campaign for the presidential elections, as Emmanuel Macron expressed: “I announce that if the French trust me again, we will immediately launch a massive effort to purify the air in our schools, our hospitals, our homes retirement, and in all public buildings and you will see the first results before the end of this year.
June 2024, no “Air Plan” has been triggered and the indoor air quality (IAQ) of public buildings is still poor and harmful to the health of the occupants. For example, in 2024, Santé Publique France estimates that poor indoor air quality in schools would be responsible for at least 40,000 cases of asthma and wheezing among children aged 6 to 11. Poor IAQ also degrades the cognitive faculties of students and allows the transmission of airborne diseases: when the air stagnates, the particles emitted by breathing (aerosols) and potentially containing viruses and bacteria, remain suspended in the air and diffuse everywhere in the room where they accumulate, reaching sufficient concentrations to infect other occupants.
For four years, Covid has been added to other diseases transmitted through the air (whooping cough, bronchiolitis, measles, flu, tuberculosis, etc.). An illness which has still not become benign, but on the contrary evidence of cardiovascular (infarction, stroke), neurological and immune sequelae is accumulating. Covid still remains an immediate threat to the lives of immunocompromised people, and in the longer term for everyone. It is a disease among the most studied by scientists and the most unknown to the population who, due to lack of information, still say they are surprised with each new wave that “Covid has not gone away” and are unaware of its devastating potential, in despite the recurring testimonies of patients of Long Coviddismayed to see new people joining their ranks, wave after wave.
As we begin the umpteenth summer wave of this “winter virus”, as the communication from authorities and so-called experts persists in defining SARS-CoV-2, individual protective gestures (mask, FFP2 for better protection, isolation, tests) are almost no longer monitored, even in hospitals. Collective protection is also absent, due to a lack of regulation and investment to improve the air quality of enclosed spaces.
Giant clusters at Taylor Swift concerts
An example which illustrates this situation is that of Taylor Swift’s last concerts, the origin of significant Covid clusters, of which we are aware only because a very large number of fans testified on social networks, to the point of attracting the media attention. Interviewed, the vice-president of Paris La Défense Arena, where the Parisian concerts took place, insisted on respecting standards for the hall, with renewal every two hours. Not only are the standards insufficient – the maximum authorized value of CO2 concentration for this type of room being 1,300 ppm (parts per million), while the international consensus recommends 800 ppm – but in addition, the CO2 concentration measurements made during the concert by a spectator, shared on social networks, show that almost the entire concert took place at more than 2000 ppm, a value well above the threshold.
If the transformation of Taylor Swift concerts into giant clusters has attracted the attention of the media and the public, it is in reality nothing singular: this is exactly what happens every day in the majority of our classes. schools. CO2 concentration readings in the classroom, which can be found on social networks, show even higher values, sometimes exceeding 3,000 ppm. However, our children spend more time in class than at a Taylor Swift concert: they breathe unhealthy air every day, for several hours, loaded with fine particles, chemicals, viruses and bacteria which, contrary to popular belief, do not make them stronger but just sicker, in their daily lives and potentially in their adult life. In addition, their cognitive abilities are impacted, as are their academic performance and their well-being – these points have already been widely documented.
CO2 values higher than those recommended are also regularly measured in other rooms, not concert rooms but waiting rooms, medical offices, hospitals, where people, often already vulnerable, are exposed to risks that are nevertheless avoidable. The major difference with spectators is that children and patients do not have the choice of whether or not to frequent places where they become contaminated in several waves per year.
This is why it is imperative to improve the air quality of all these premises as a priority, aiming for the recommended value of 800 ppm of CO2. A value already obligatory in the case of establishments welcoming children under six years of age and first and second level education or vocational training establishments, public or private, and which must be verified at the latest in 2024, according to the decrees of 2022. This new regulation constitutes an important step forward in obtaining improvements. Moreover, actions are emerging, such as in Lyon where parents denounce the situation of their children’s classes and demand better indoor air quality via ventilation systems, air filtration and by reducing staff numbers. .
Yes, indoor air quality is a major public health issue; we need adequate standards for all establishments open to the public, effective controls and resources that meet the challenges. During elections, what program is committed to this subject on which our present and our future depend?
Signatories:
Elisa ZENO, research engineer, PhD, Ecole et Familles Oubliées collective; Louis LEBRUN, public health specialist; David SIMARD, doctor in philosophy of health; Jonathan GANDY, thermal engineer; Arnaud MERCIER, university professor; Michaël ROCHOY, general practitioner; Christian LEHMANN, general practitioner, writer; Guillaume LIMOUSIN, middle school mathematics teacher; Solenn TANGUY, educational editor, president of the Winslow Public Health association; Thierry AMOUROUX, spokesperson for the National Union of Nursing Professionals SNPI; Cathie ERISSY, Secretary General of the Association for the Promotion of the Nursing Profession APPI; Julie GRASSET, President of the CoeurVide19 Association; Sabrina SELLAMI, Vice-President of CoeurVide19 Association, lawyer; Dr Jérôme MARTY President UFMLS; Chantal SOMM Millions Missing France; Marie VALDES, PIMS Covid Association; Cécile RIBET RETEL, president PEEP Conflans Sainte Honorine; Andreea-Cristina MAS, Long Covid Pediatric Collective; Odile MAURIN president of Handi-Social and elected municipal and metropolitan opposition (Toulouse); Jean-Sébastien FLAMMANG, Fluide design office, flammang-conseil company; Corinne DEPAGNE, pulmonologist; Gwen FAUCHOIS, former vice-president of Act Up-Paris, health activist; Gilles THÖNI PhD, Exercise Physiologist, APA and Covid19; Marie FERNET, lawyer, parent of students; Christophe LAMARRE doctor in Roubaix; Philippe BORREL, author-director of documentary films; Emmanuel CAILLET, architect, Winslow Public Health association; François LECARDONNEL Specialist in Clinical Drug Development; Florent TÉTARD, doctor in chemistry of materials and surface treatments, Lspm CNRS, Sorbonne Paris Nord University; Dominique LANG, hygienist executive nurse; Céline LESPRIT, nurse; Nima SADAGHIANI, General Practitioner; Nathalie PIAT, iOS developer; Audrey QUEHEN, School and Forgotten Families collective; Laure SOULÉ, lawyer; Valérie REVERT, mother of three children; Armelle VAUTROT, academic and therapist; Michela FRIGIOLINI, activist, Act Up-Paris 1992-1996; Yannick FREYMANN, general practitioner.