Taking Charge of our Health: Mitigating Long COVID
by Maya Havenwood
Long COVID
As we get farther away from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we can begin to understand the long-term effects of the virus. As early as September 2020, COVID-19 survivors reported lingering effects of COVID-19 months after the initial infection. A significant number of people continue to experience negative symptoms of COVID-19 months or years after they first contracted the virus. Some research shows that 70% COVID-19 survivors may experience long-term medical complications.
In 2022, the World Health Organization engaged an international panel of 265 patients, clinicians, researchers, and WHO staff to develop a consensus definition for long COVID. They determined that for sufferers of long COVID, symptoms begin to appear about 3 months after their initial infection. Common symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, and cognitive dysfunction. These symptoms generally affect everyday functioning and lead to a reduced quality of life.
In many ways, the world has returned to its pre-pandemic state. Safety concerns begin to take a backseat as we strive to get our lives back to normal. But for many people, the COVID-19 risk is just as real now as it was in 2020. Many people who were infected in the past several years are still struggling with long-term effects of the illness. It’s essential that we continue to prioritize the safety of ourselves and our communities by taking steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
HEPA Air Purifiers and COVID-19
COVID-19 spreads through airborne transmission of microscopic respiratory particles infected with the virus. The particle size of the respiratory virus itself is very small. SARS-CoV-2 is around 0.1 micrometers. But the virus doesn’t travel around by itself; it’s trapped in tiny, human-generated respiratory droplets that are exhaled during breathing, talking, and coughing. Most of these droplets are less than 0.5 micrometers in size. Because the particles are so small, they can remain suspended in the air for hours, increasing the risk that people come into contact with them and become infected. The World Health Organization cautions that this type of transmission may occur “particularly in indoor settings with poor ventilation”.
Air purifiers with HEPA filters are an essential tool to prevent the spread of these particles. The CDC points out that “by definition, a High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter is at least 99.97% efficient at capturing particles 0.3 micrometers in size. This 0.3 µm particle approximates the most penetrating particle size (MPPS) through the filter. HEPA filters are even more efficient at capturing particles larger and smaller than the MPPS. Thus, HEPA filters are no less than 99.97% efficient at capturing human-generated viral particles”.
One 2022 study revealed that air cleaners equipped with HEPA filters can effectively remove these virus-laden particles from the air. The researchers disseminated infectious SARS-CoV-2 aerosols in a test chamber, then filtered the air with a HEPA-filtered air cleaner. They found that the air cleaner with a HEPA filter could continuously remove SARS-CoV-2 from the air.
A 2023 study tested the effectiveness of HEPA-filtered air cleaners to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The researchers conducted an experiment in 32 kindergartens in Germany. Half of the kindergartens received air cleaners with HEPA filters while the other half did not. An independent research institute conducted experimental tests on the kindergartens using air cleaners. These tests simulated an infected person dispersing aerosols into the room air and found that after 4–9 minutes, the aerosol concentration was halved, while after 15–30 minutes, reductions of 90% were achieved. Importantly, the study notes that frequent ventilation and consistent use of face masks are also an essential step to curb COVID-19 contagion.
Clean Air Organizations
As effects of COVID-19 continue, conflicting state and local policies, combined with a desire to return to normalcy, have led individuals and businesses to relax their standards on COVID-19 prevention. Too often, it’s the most vulnerable individuals who pay the price for this lax attitude. Risks of infection are “distributed unequally across society”, and “COVID-19 has had disproportionate contagion and fatality in Black, Latino, and Native American communities and among the poor in the United States”.
In the absence of adequate institutional response to this crisis, individual organizers have developed innovative grassroots solutions to the problem. In 2023, a Chicago-based organizer named Emily Dupree founded Clean Air Club after her partner got COVID-19 at a concert. She wanted a way to "navigate the continuing pandemic,” so people “would be able to enjoy the arts community, but also be safe while doing so,” she says (link to source). Clean Air Club is a grassroots organization that provides free air-purification equipment to artists and venues in Chicago. It has inspired 38 similar lending libraries across the United States, plus several in Australia and Canada. These Clean Air Organizations partner with air purifier distributor, Smarter HEPA, to provide HEPA air purifiers to local events around the country.
One such organization, Clear The Air ATX, partnered with Smarter HEPA to acquire HEPA air purifiers to lend out to artists and venues. Katie Drackert, an organizer with Clear The Air, told Teen Vogue that they wanted to start a COVID-safe initiative after developing long COVID in December 2021. Clear The Air ATX emphasizes the role of clean air in community equity. “Reducing the amount of viral particles in the air means we can decrease the risk of transmission, thus keeping our communities safer while maintaining vital social connections”.
COVID-19 remains a public health issue, and it affects us all at an individual and a community level. Long COVID sufferers must grapple with symptoms months or years after they first get sick. Clean Air Organizations, HEPA air purifiers, and consistent masking empower us to take our health and safety into our own hands.
