By Edward A. Nardell, Time
As the Omicron variant spreads rapidly across vaccinated and unvaccinated America, and a shocking number of Americans are still dying, many are wondering what the coming months will bring, how will they continue to protect themselves from COVID-19, and when, if ever, life will really return to something resembling the pre-pandemic normal. The good news is that this pandemic will eventually end due to effective vaccines, infection-induced herd immunity, and the further evolution of the virus. The bad news is that like seasonal influenza, COVID-variants may be with us for years to come, and this will certainly not be the last respiratory virus pandemic. We have long suffered from annual contagious respiratory infections, but exceptionally low rates of influenza and common colds during COVID-precautions have demonstrated that not all of this suffering need happen. So, we need to think clearly and scientifically about how better we can reduce the spread of viruses indoors especially when and where masks will no longer be in common use.
Are there effective engineering controls that can help make indoor environments truly safer?
