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Lancet COVID-19 Commission Task Force on Safe Work, Safe School and Safe Travel

As the chair of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission’s Task Force on Safe Work, Safe School, and Safe Travel, Dr. Joseph Allen, along with other experts, provided guidance on mitigating transmission risks and protecting public health.

Please note: All reports were created in 2021/2022 and are not regularly updated. For the latest information on COVID-19, please refer to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), or the World Health Organization (WHO).

Proposed Non-infectious Air Delivery Rates (NADR) for Reducing Exposure to Airborne Respiratory Infectious Diseases

(Published: November 2022)

Findings:

  1. Current ventilation targets are too low
  2. Getting buildings off current minimums would lead to big gains
  3. General coalescence around targets, across metrics and experts
  4. Important to move conversation forward
  5. There is urgency

Read or Download the Report

#FirstFour Healthy Building Strategies Every Building Should Pursue to Reduce Risk from COVID-19

(Published: July 2022)

Findings:

  1. Commission or Recommission
    Building Systems
  2. Maximize Outdoor Air
  3. Upgrade Air Filters to Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) 13
  4. Supplement With Portable Air Cleaners, Where Needed
Read or Download the Report

Designing infectious disease resilience into school buildings through improvements to ventilation and air cleaning

(Published: April 2021)

Findings:

  • Buildings play a critical role in the transmission of airborne infectious diseases
  • Schools are chronically under ventilated
  • Health co-benefits go beyond disease transmission
  • Healthy school building interventions for airborne infectious disease must be evidence-based
  • Ventilation and air cleaning enhancements can allow safe reopening and provide long-term value
Read or Download the Report

Building-related risk factors are a critical, but missing, component of SARS-CoV-2 outbreak investigations

(Published: March 2021)

Investigations of COVID-19 case clusters repeatedly fail to assess the role of building ventilation systems in disease transmission.

In this report, the task force provides three examples of cluster investigations to illustrate the shortcomings and potential implications of failing to collect this information.

Read or Download the Report

Six Priority Areas

(Published: February 2021)

Priority Area 1: Evaluate Exposures and Reduce Infection Risks Using the ‘Anticipate, Recognize, Evaluate, Control, and Confirm’ Framework.

Priority Area 2: Layer Defenses with the Hierarchy of Controls Framework.

Priority Area 3: Increase Protections for Workers in Essential Industries.

Priority Area 4: Prioritize Keeping Schools Open.

Priority Area 5: Close and Reopen Businesses Strategically.

Priority Area 6: Minimize Risk of Spread
Through Air Travel.

Read or Download the Report



In the FINAL REPORT (Published: January 2022), the Task Force summarized 31 Lessons from COVID-19 & Necessary Actions for Future Pandemic Resilience for Safe Work, Safe School, & Safe Travel.

Read or Download the Final Report

In addition, the Task Force produced the following peer-reviewed papers:

Health Equity, Schooling Hesitancy, and the Social Determinants of Learning – PubMed (nih.gov)

Indoor Air Changes and Potential Implications for SARS-CoV-2 Transmission | Environmental Health | JAMA | JAMA Network

A paradigm shift to combat indoor respiratory infection | Science

The Harvard Healthy Buildings Program held an online webinar with Task Force members, discussing strategies to improve indoor air quality in long-term care facilities.