Conference Agenda

ASHRAE Standard 241, Control of Infectious Aerosols, was published in 2023 as a response to the COVID pandemic and in recognition of the important role that buildings play in disease transmission. Increasingly, leaders, building experts, and public health officials have come to appreciate that buildings present an opportunity to mitigate disease transmission and make occupants safer and healthier. ASHRAE 241 was a major step forward and is the first code-enforceable indoor air quality standard designed to reduce disease risk. The standard establishes minimum requirements for control of infectious aerosols and was developed by an unprecedented team of interdisciplinary experts, including experts from public health and medical fields.

This standard is an innovative new tool in the public health toolkit, as it an operational standard with an “infection risk management mode” (IRMM), which can be activated as determined by public health officials. What is the role of the public health community in utilizing this new standard or shaping public health practice to include building ventilation? In this work, we outline a framework for implementing standard 241 and its role in the public health toolkit, especially during periods of high respiratory disease. From the Brown University School of Public Health, we will convene public health officials, epidemiologists, physicians, and others to develop an implementation framework. We outline when and how public health officials might use a tool like standard 241 and what data can trigger IRMM (such as emergency department visits or wastewater surveillance). Health-based indoor air quality standards have an important role to play in improving our health, and an important first step is forging connections between engineers and public health officials.