This is how often you should ventilate indoors
Ventilation against Corona. (Photo: rawf8 / Shutterstock)
The AHA rules for containing the coronavirus were supplemented by the letter L a long time ago. L stands for ventilation – this is particularly important in a professional and school context.
If several people are together in a closed room, the risk of coronavirus infection increases. The main problem is very small particles: These so-called aerosols can float in the air for a long time and spread around the room, warns the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV).
Specifically, this means: Even if an infected person has left a room, the risk of infection increases for the others. In addition to wearing a mask, one thing in particular helps to protect against it: regular ventilation. The fresh outside air reduces the aerosol concentration in the interior and thus lowers the possible risk of infection.
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How often you should ventilate
As a rule of thumb for ventilation, the DGUV recommends opening all windows in the room wide for between three and ten minutes every hour, depending on the outside temperature. So: longer in summer, shorter in winter. If meetings or seminars are taking place, the room should be ventilated at least every 20 minutes, and before and after the meeting.
How often you should ventilate depends not only on the length of stay, but also on the size of the room and the number of people in the room. But how can you calculate when it is time to ventilate the room?
This is where a free app from the DGUV-Arbeitsschutzinstitut (IFA) comes in. In the one available for Android and iOS CO2 timer you can have the recommended ventilation frequency calculated for offices, seminar rooms or classrooms – for this you have to enter the number of people, the room area and height as well as the length of stay and then receive a specific time. In order not to miss the moment of ventilation, you can be reminded by a timer in the app.
With regard to the corona situation, please note: The app shows the result in the form of a function graph with different points for different carbon dioxide concentrations in the room air – the respective time information depends on this.
Anyone who wants to ventilate infection-friendly should follow the recommendation for 800 ppm CO2 indoor air concentration – i.e. the point furthest left in the result curve shown. dpa
