We can avoid mask mandates if we do a better job of removing COVID from indoor air | Expert Opinion

As someone who studies indoor air quality, watching people debate the Philadelphia mask mandate — which is supposed to return Monday — has been incredibly disheartening.

Ultimately, I view Philadelphia as a national leader for reinstating indoor masking at the earliest sign of rising cases. A well-fitted, high-quality mask is still more effective at preventing infection than vaccines are alone. Even if only a small percentage of people adhere to this mandate, it can save the lives of dozens of working Philadelphians, and spare even more from disabilities related to long COVID-19.

But let’s also be realistic. It is not 2020 anymore. We are all exhausted. Compliance and enforcement of this mandate will be low. And since our neighboring counties are not mandating masks, this policy may drive customers away from visiting restaurants and booking venues.

Toggling mask mandates on and off is not sustainable as the city’s only long-term public health strategy. But neither is leaving masking up to individual choice. On their own, both approaches produce economic costs and social inequities. Citywide squabbling over the pros and cons of mask mandates is an unproductive use of social and political capital.

We cannot continue to fight about saving lives vs. livelihoods — that is a false choice. The only path back to normalcy is to clean our indoor air by enhancing ventilation and filtration in Philadelphia’s buildings, which can remove viral particles from the air before they can be inhaled. Enhancing ventilation and filtration can blunt the impact of future waves and reduce the need for future mask mandates.

“The only path back to normalcy is to clean our indoor air by enhancing ventilation and filtration in Philadelphia’s buildings.”

Here’s an analogy. What if Philadelphia did not treat its drinking water, and it was up to us to boil the water that came out of our taps with our own equipment and heating costs? This wouldn’t be sustainable: waterborne disease would spread among those who do not boil thoroughly, and only the most privileged citizens would be well protected.

Today, the mask mandate is a reasonable policy in the absence of clean indoor air. But it’s also not sustainable. We need our government to ensure that our shared air is clean. If it is only up to individuals to filter air with our own masks, even if it is mandated, inequities will persist, many of us will continue to get sick, and this pandemic will drag on.

» READ MORE: Was Philly right to bring back the indoor mask mandate? | Pro/Con

Plus, imagine how much more business the city of Philadelphia would attract back to its convention center, offices, coffee shops, and bars if we were truly on the leading edge of the healthy buildings movement. I would bet that it would bring in way more economic vibrancy than this mask mandate will deter. Indoor air quality investments also bring benefits beyond COVID, such as suppressing the spread of other viruses like influenza. Research shows that cleaner air can also lower asthma rates, improve students’ academic performance, and reduce employees’ need for sick leave.

Such investments need not be reserved only for privileged business owners. It’s less expensive to make these changes than you might think. Businesses don’t have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to retrofit a building’s HVAC systems to provide more ventilation. Instead, they can upgrade filters within recirculating HVAC systems to filter out viral particles more effectively. Appropriately sized, portable HEPA filters also work well. A DIY option that combines filters and a box fan could be considerably cheaper and even more effective than off-the-shelf options. While the risk of infection can never be reduced to zero, cleaner indoor air will help lessen future waves and usher in a faster return to normalcy.

Yes, this costs money, but Philly schools spent $4.5 million on air purifiers last year that weren’t really effective. The city clearly has the resources to fund these projects, but it lacks experts to guide our policymakers toward effective (and cost-effective) engineering solutions and hold them accountable when so much money is squandered.

The American Rescue Plan Act has given the state more than $6 billion for COVID relief efforts, which can include ventilation upgrades. And it’s only fair that the state offers help to tackle the challenge.

Whichever side of this mask mandate debate you’re on, let’s stop arguing about it, and instead channel this energy together to demand that our leaders implement policies, incentives, and technologies to clean our indoor environments and end this pandemic once and for all.

Bryan Cummings is a research scientist at Drexel University studying indoor air quality.