SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An excessive heat watch is expected to hit Northern California this weekend and could last up to a full week.
During this upcoming, and unpleasant, heatwave, expect the whir of air conditioners to blast in homes. But with the coronavirus pandemic still present, do people have to worry about COVID-19 droplets spreading through the air? Theresa Pistochini, engineer manager with the Western Cooling Efficiency Center at UC Davis said people shouldn't fear their air conditioners.
"A good HVAC system with up-to-standard filtration and ventilation should help reduce transmission of disease," Pistochini said.
However, she's careful to note that many HVAC systems are not up to standard, and that a commercial system that does properly filter and ventilate air offers just one layer of protection to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
"It would be incorrect to say that if you have a well functioning HVAC system with a filter and that's ventilating outdoor air that you would prevent the spread of infectious disease completely, right? It's not the case at all. This is [part of] a collection of measures that we have to take to prevent the spread of disease," Pistochini said.
The bigger concern she said, may be people gathering indoors to cool off, at cooling centers perhaps, and thus undoing social distancing.
"This is really concerning, because of the fact that we'd be putting people in potentially close proximity to each other, but as far as people using AC in their own home it's a perfectly safe thing to do," Pistochini said.
With so many businesses operating outdoors, are misters and fans helping spread droplets? According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it should be a consideration. The recommendation is to "minimize air or mist from them blowing directly on or toward people to reduce the potential spread of any airborne or aerosolized viruses."
Plus, with traditional public places to cool off — pools, libraries, theaters, and malls — closed, options to beat the heat are limited, especially for the homeless. Cooling centers in Sacramento County are activated only when the forecast shows three consecutive days of 105 degree highs and 75 degree lows overnight.
Bob Erlenbusch, Executive Director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, said his group is calling on local leaders to lower that threshold to 100 degrees for multiple days.
"We need to lower that threshold to keep people from dying, quite frankly," Erlenbusch said.
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