HEALTH FILE

ARE YOU TAKING THESE STEPS TO STAY HEALTHY?

Image credit: NEWS CANADA.

From NEWS CANADA

By now, most of us are probably familiar with some of the basic steps we can take to help us stay healthy.

Singing the birthday song, twice-over, to help make sure we’ve washed our hands for long enough; wearing a well-fitting mask in crowded indoor places and covering our coughs and sneezes with the crook of our arm, not our hands.

And of course, staying home if we feel sick.

But there’s something else you can do that might not be top of mind, and that’s improving indoor ventilation. During the colder months, many of us spend more time at home, or gather with friends and family indoors. While we continue to do so, it’s important to make sure that we take steps to maintain and improve the quality of the air indoors.

Air quality matters inside, too. Even if your home is vacuumed, dusted, scrubbed and polished, there may still be pollutants in your indoor air. This can have an impact on your health. For some, dust, mould and chemicals from cleaning products can trigger allergic reactions, or cause other health symptoms. Spending more time indoors with others can also make spreading respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and the flu easier. Some respiratory viruses can spread from person to person through the air by small particles called aerosols. For example, when someone who has COVID-19 breathes, talks, sings, shouts, sneezes or coughs, they can release respiratory particles with the virus into the air and spread it to others.

Replacing stale indoor air with outdoor air is one of the simplest ways to improve indoor air quality. In addition to reducing the amount of indoor air pollutants, good ventilation also helps to prevent the build-up of indoor moisture, keeps air flowing through your space, and reduces the spread of infectious particles.

Good indoor ventilation can help reduce the spread of respiratory viruses like COVID-19, RSV and the flu. These viruses spread from one infected person to others through infectious particles released into the air. Good ventilation helps to reduce the levels of potentially infectious particles in the air, by replacing indoor air with outside air, which is especially important when you’re with people from outside your immediate household.

Simply put: the better ventilated a space, the less likely you are to breathe in infectious particles that can make you sick.

But what can we do to improve ventilation at home in colder weather, when gatherings are often inside?

There are plenty of small steps that can make a surprisingly big difference:

Open windows and doors whenever possible, even if it’s cold or wet outside. A few minutes of outdoor air can help.

Run a kitchen or bathroom exhaust fan continuously at low speed and open a window – even if it’s in a different room – to provide replacement air.

Consider using an air purifier with a high-efficiency air filter (known as a HEPA filter), that is properly sized for the room.

Regularly clean or replace filters in your heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. If your home has a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) or energy recovery ventilator (ERV), run it continuously.

These steps may seem basic but they can affect the overall air quality in your home, especially when you’re hosting family and friends.

More info on ways to improve ventilation at canada.ca/respiratory-viruses.