The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking public comments to support indoor air quality management improvements to reduce disease transmission and improve public health.
Building on the Biden-Harris Administration's Clean Air in Buildings Challenge, a key component of the President's National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan, the EPA is seeking information to support the widespread adoption of actions that lead to improvements in indoor air quality, with a particular emphasis on schools and commercial buildings.
Comments are due Dec. 5.
EPA will review information received during this public comment period to support the potential development, improvement, and implementation of technical assistance efforts, including tools, training, guidance, and other strategies to support sustained ventilation, filtration, air cleaning, and other indoor air quality improvements in buildings.
The Agency is inviting comments from a broad array of individuals and organizations with knowledge and expertise relating to the built environment and health, indoor air quality, epidemiology, disease transmission, social sciences, and other disciplines, and from the general public.
Comments must be submitted by December 5, 2022. For more info on how to submit a comment check this out: FR Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2022-0794.
Why is this so important? Improvements in indoor air quality (IAQ) through improved ventilation, filtration, and air cleaning can reduce the potential for airborne transmission of diseases including COVID-19, and achieve a range of other positive health and productivity impacts for building occupants.
The air we breathe indoors can be impacted by many factors, including the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of a building, people's activities indoors, and the air quality outdoors.
GASP lauded the EPA for taking further action to help curtail indoor pollution.
“The pandemic has brought to the forefront many public health issues that have been on the backburner for too long,” GASP Executive Director Patrick Campbell said. “We know how important it is for us to have healthy homes, and an integral part of a healthy house is healthy indoor air. GASP is hopeful the public comments period will garner information that will help EPA adopt standards that will help better protect us all.”