HVACR and the Coronavirus Economic Impact
The heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) industry has been suffering both in demand and the workforce due to the global pandemic that is COVID-19, or the coronavirus as well as how the global populace has responded to the way the virus may spread.
Much of this downward movement in terms of the HVAC industry’s performance has to do with one main misconception from many individuals around the globe: that COVID-19 is airborne and can infect those by flying and directly attacking the system.
Coronavirus Economic Impact: The Beginning
While COVID-19 itself lacks the capability to stay in the air for hours (aerosol), it can travel the air naturally through sneezing and coughing (droplets).
Launched like a projectile from these sinus fluids, microscopic droplets from those who tested positive for the coronavirus can be “carried” by wind and even stay dormant and still in the air for an extended period of time.
In this unmoving state, even a perfectly healthy person can contract the virus and all they have to do is pass through an area which was contaminated by a sneeze or a cough hours before.
Coronavirus Economic Impact: ASHRAE
Luckily, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) president WIlliam Bahnfleth says that any air cleaner and HVAC filtration system that can remove particles from the air has the basic ability to reduce one’s exposure to coronavirus.
Whether by a process called filtration (where the HVAC unit has tiny filters that capture the virus as it sucks in and re-ejects the air, turning it clean) or by UV technology (by taking the reins where the filtration process falls short, eradicating the virus by disinfecting it), HVAC units make COVID-19 less dangerous and dire than it currently is.
Coronavirus Economic Impact: Social Distancing
Despite these emerging technologies, Bahnfleth still cannot emphasize traditional ways of safety, vigilant social distancing, and practicing basic hygiene enough, and says that it would be better for everyone if they had both in their households.
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