18/01/2019
During this season people tend to get sicker more often, even though they are mostly inside and don't socialize as much as when the weather is warmer. Most think that entering in contact with others is what makes them sick, or the temperature difference between the indoors and outdoors temperatures. Now there is some truth in that, both of the situations could spread diseases and make you really sick. But people do go out and socialize during all seasons of the year! But we see only a very small portion of the sick people we normally see during colder seasons.
Why?
There is a very scary and not as widely known reason and I will try to explain the best I can. If you still have questions or don't get the picture, please, feel free to contact me any time and I can further explain it.
Facts:
1-During cold season we try our best to stay out of the cold. As an example, let's look at family of four members: Mom, Dad, and two childrens. Besides the regular routine of work and school, they go out shopping and doing errands as they need to, also spend time on the outdoors as a family and so forth. The amount of time they spend indoors is as reduced as possible for them. Now, winter is here and they stay at home watching tv and spending time as family, but inside. They got visitors and they stay inside instead of going out to the screened porch as they normally would.
2- Indoor Air Quality is worse than outside air. EPA (Enviromental Protection Agency), https://www.epa.gov, which is the official US goverment agency that focuses on the protection of human health and the enviroment, states that indoor air could be 2 to 5 times more poluted than the air outside.
In regards to this issue, I took the following exert from their site at https://www.epa.gov/report-environment/indoor-air-quality
Importance of Indoor Air Quality(IAQ)
“Indoor air quality” refers to the quality of the air in a home, school, office, or other building environment. The potential impact of indoor air quality on human health nationally can be noteworthy for several reasons:
Americans, on average, spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors,
1 where the concentrations of some pollutants are often 2 to 5 times higher than typical outdoor concentrations.
2 People who are often most susceptible to the adverse effects of pollution (e.g., the very young, older adults, people with cardiovascular or respiratory disease) tend to spend even more time indoors.
3 Indoor concentrations of some pollutants have increased in recent decades due to such factors as energy-efficient building construction (when it lacks sufficient mechanical ventilation to ensure adequate air exchange) and increased use of synthetic building materials, furnishings, personal care products, pesticides, and household cleaners.
As a matter of fact,
https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-08/documents/sick_building_factsheet.pdf This article on their site also has a lot of information on this matter that you might find amusing and relevant to further understand this issue.
Solutions:
There is technollogy on the market that can help you get the best IAQ possible.
One of those is APCO line of products. Take a look at their site at https://www.freshaireuv.com/index.html
Also look at the Clean Comfort line of products https://www.cleancomfort.com/
Any of those you can get through your HVAC contractor, such as myself. Feel free to contact me anytime at (813) 403-3361 if you would like an estimate or more information and I will be more than happy to help you with it.
United States Environmental Protection Agency
