It’s back-to-school time already, and COVID-19 is on the rise. Last year’s flu season was no cakewalk, and RSV is looming in the wings with the likes of HMPV and rhinovirus: we could be walking into yet another “quad-demic” if nothing is done to curb the spread. The CDC and other public health apparatuses have been hobbled by political maneuvering, anti-science actors, and weaponized incompetence, but there are tools that anyone can use to help keep their community safer this cold and flu season. Libraries have several practical options at their disposal, from improving air quality and offering respiratory protection to making tests available and using local risk assessments to guide precautions.
Clean Air
This one is a no-brainer when you really think about it, but most people don’t consider air filtration and ventilation in their day-to-day lives. Carbon dioxide is a frequently overlooked yet common health threat in many indoor spaces. It’s not just the climate that’s affected by higher CO₂, but also your brain. Even short exposure to CO₂ at ~1000 ppm or higher is enough to affect cognition and mood. While there are monitors you can use to gauge carbon dioxide levels, like these handheld options from AirSpot and Aranet, you can ensure good ventilation by simply opening a couple of windows or doors when the weather allows. Fresh air means better moods, better decision-making, and less spread of airborne illness.
Most libraries already have central air, and one of the easiest things they can do to improve both employee and patron health is ensure the filters used are rated MERV 13 or higher. This pulls most aerosols and fine particulates out of the air at the filter, reducing the spread of illness, halting the recirculation of allergens, and trapping other harmful dust and particles like microplastics, smoke, lead, or asbestos. On top of this, it’s very easy to deploy HEPA filters throughout the library. You can find HEPA-rated filters ranging from portable units to whole-building systems. Harvard has a great calculator that can help you decide what kind of air filter, or how many, you need for your wing, office, department, or library. As with everything on this list, it’s not an all-or-nothing issue: a few smaller filters will be more helpful than nothing, especially when paired with the other tools on this list.
DIY air filtration like the Corsi-Rosenthal Box is another option. Studies show that, especially in emergency situations such as wildfires, CR boxes can provide double or triple the clean air delivery rate of out-of-the-box HEPA filters. While not the best choice for constant use due to noise levels and power draw, having a kit stashed away and ready to use for climate emergencies is a great idea and only costs ~$60. Here’s an image of such systems in use in an earthquake/tsunami shelter in Japan. Whatever arises that displaces people, keeping the air clean in shelter and emergency-response situations helps lessen the impact of disease spread in close quarters, something that often gets overlooked in an emergency. Like most things in the library, it’s a balancing act, but keeping at least one CR box around for emergencies is an efficacious and low-cost option.
Respiratory Protection
Ever since the end of the COVID emergency period in 2022, most people have abandoned public masking or started to view continued use of personal protective equipment as a sign of active illness. But masking, even when a person is well, has been used throughout Asia for decades during high-spread seasons. It’s proven to slow the spread of many respiratory illnesses, especially when more people mask.
Protecting others from symptomatic illness is important, but in the case of COVID specifically, one in five cases is asymptomatic, meaning people can be spreading the illness and feel just fine. Most respiratory illnesses have the capability to be asymptomatic or spread during a presymptomatic phase. Especially during respiratory season and when serving high-risk patrons, such as seniors or young children’s groups, asking patrons to mask can help keep people out of the hospital and coming back to your library programs safe and healthy.
Some masks work better than others, and for that reason, you should favor handing out respirator-style masks over “baggy blue” procedure masks. Not only do they work better for personal protection, but they’re also more comfortable since they don’t rub on the user’s nose or cheeks, making people a lot more willing to use them. This does come with some added costs, but there are people who keep an eye out for respirator sales or institutional discounts, as seen here. This brand has kid-sized masks and fashion color options, as well as frequent bulk deals and sales.
You can also cut costs by partnering with your local mask bloc. These volunteer organizations exist to give people free access to respirator masks, and giving them some space on library checkout counters can be a win/win scenario. It’s always good to keep a few respirators on hand for when wildfires rear their heads, too. If you can’t find any blocs in your area on the list linked above, be sure to check Instagram and Facebook. These are, for the most part, small volunteer organizations, and they don’t always make it onto the international lists.
Making sure staff mask consistently during disease surges models the behavior for patrons, making it a lot less likely that you’ll have to deal with explosive frustration from unwilling patrons. Modeling this behavior also makes it less likely that library staff will get sick, reducing sick leave time as well as keeping patrons from being exposed at the library. Small actions like masking have compounding effects with further reach than you’d think.
Rapid Tests
Ever since the government stopped sending out free rapid tests in the mail, most people have stopped using them. They can cost upwards of $20 a test at the pharmacy, and people have more important things to spend that kind of money on. Just like respirators, you can sometimes count on your local mask bloc to have free tests available. Simply giving them some space to leave these freebies for patrons and staff is another win/win. However, many smaller or less well-funded blocs won’t have freebies you can take advantage of.
If you’re interested in having some rapid tests on hand for either staff or patrons, you can get in touch with manufacturers to see what their institutional deals are. Many manufacturers will give bulk discounts to libraries or schools. iHealth and FlowFlex tests often have special deals on bulk purchases, and they may be happy to work with institutions to make sure near-expiration tests are used instead of simply being thrown out. These two companies make it easier to access these deals, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t options from other companies. It’s worth reaching out to other manufacturers to see if they’re willing to work with your library and budget. Proof of a positive COVID test can mean all the difference when accessing treatments like Paxlovid, Metformin, and Xocova, which help to reduce disease severity and the likelihood of post-viral illness, keeping your patrons and staff healthier.
Risk Assessments
Using risk assessments to help manage when and what kind of mitigations your library uses can be very helpful. It’s also something that could add a bit of value to library newsletters. Dr. Ruth is a great person to look to for weekly health alerts in the U.S. She focuses on respiratory diseases but often talks about big food recalls, measles cases, norovirus, and other seasonal or infrequent health threats.
Similarly, The Sick Times produces a weekly COVID-19 threat update based on CDC data, as well as breaking long COVID research. The Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative seeks to help high-risk and disabled people wrap their heads around the numeric risk associated with current wastewater levels. The risk assessments at these sources and others can be used to help dictate when to put out masks or crank up the air filters, saving the library money and making sure the resources available get their best use.
Why Should You Care?
These types of concerns and mitigations can feel foreign because many people don’t consider themselves high risk, but the conditions that make people high risk for COVID include a lot of different and surprisingly common factors, like just being non-white, having diabetes, or being overweight. People over the age of 65 make up over 81% of recorded COVID deaths, and elderly patrons are frequent visitors to many libraries. Anyone can develop long COVID, especially after repeated infections. It’s already the most common chronic disease in children after just six and a half years of circulation.
The very old and the very young face the highest hospitalization and death risks from what many would brush off as “just a flu” or “only a cold.” Keeping these members of our communities safe should be a major concern for any librarian, especially during seasonal illness or rising epidemics. And, in the case of air-quality control, even one of these actions will help keep staff and patrons in better health and better spirits for more reasons than just keeping the sniffles at bay. Try to integrate as many of the tools you see here into your library this year to keep everyone you share the air with safer as COVID, flu, and more make the rounds.
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