ABSTRACT
The importance of indoor air quality (IAQ) to reduce infectious disease transmission has become clear during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to SARS-CoV-2, other diseases, including RSV and influenza, are spread by airborne transmission, and often indoors-where most people spend over 90% of their lives. Given the importance of indoor environments in the spread of infectious disease, ventilation and filtration to improve IAQ should play a major role in preparing for a global catastrophic biological risk event (GCBR). This study involves performing a review of peer-reviewed literature and reports about improving indoor air quality in public spaces and interviewing technical experts in the fields of indoor air, building ownership, IAQ policy, and disease transmission control. The goal of the study is to identify and develop near and long-term policy actions for improving IAQ aimed to reduce GCBRs and other infectious diseases at various levels, including local and national. © 2022 17th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate, INDOOR AIR 2022. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Human civilization is vulnerable to global catastrophic biological threats and existential threats. Policy to mitigate the impact of major biological threats should consider worst-case scenarios. We aimed to strengthen existing research on island refuges as a mitigating mechanism against such threats by considering five additional factors as well as recent literature on catastrophic risks and resilience. We also analyzed the performance of potential refuge islands during early phases the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a composite indicator (scored from 0-1) based on 14 global macroindices, we present analysis supporting Australia (0.71), New Zealand (0.64), and Iceland (0.58) as the leading candidate island nation refuges to safeguard the survival of humanity and a flourishing technological civilization from the threat of a catastrophic pandemic. Data from the COVID-19 pandemic supports this finding where islands have performed relatively well. We discuss the persisting weaknesses of even the best candidate refuges and the growing literature describing what preparations such a refuge should ensure to enhance resilience. Refuge preparations by Australia and New Zealand, in particular, may additionally provide some immunity against winter-inducing catastrophes such as global nuclear war. Existing disaster resilience frameworks such as the Sendai framework could be worded to mandate preventive measures against global catastrophic and existential threats. The issue of island refuges against certain global catastrophic risks should be raised at relevant international political summits.