| > No one has innovated a cost effective way to update office ventilation properly, Ventilation is building infrastructure, and building infrastructure is difficult. To use a software analogy, it's sort of like saying, "Why hasn't someone found a cost effective way to update mainframe software to support Unicode?" Basically, there's a lot of it, most of it's custom, and you have to work around things on a case-by-case basis. And a greenfield replacement is expensive. There are buildings in New York where the central heating dates back a century, and most of the people with the expertise to maintain it are over 70. (And they're second-generation legacy maintainers in some cases.) There's no cheap or easy way to update these buildings with better ventilation. Your best bet might be window units, but that poses plenty of challenges, too. EDIT: Another commenter suggested HEPA filters, which may work for central air (if circulation is already good enough), or if you place them in standalone room units. I think the science on the latter looker promising when last I looked? > no one has made highly comfortable yet very inexpensive N95 masks, I've been pretty happy with the KF-94s from South Korea. I bought 20 masks each from several brands, tried them on, and ordered a big box of my favorites. Depending on your goals, there are also good N95s and KN-95s. One of the challenges here is that many people want masks that work, and that means some kind of certification or inspection. But this means that most countries tend to standardize on one basic mask design backed up by government enforcement. > no one has invented a fool-proof vaccination that completely prevents infection This is a genuinely hard problem. Immunology is super complex, and every disease works differently. The particular challenge with coronaviruses, as I understand it, is that they reproduce in the nose extremely soon after initial infection. Mucosal antibodies have certain limitations compared to other antibodies, and it's hard for the body to ramp up a defense inside of 24 to 36 hours. But we have just seen the golden age of vaccine innovation. |
True innovation in ventilation to mitigate Covid would look something like an inexpensive UV light air purification unit that can be mounted over the air intake of a home heating system... Many of us bought blacklights at Spencer Gifts back in the early 90s, but somehow relative lights are marked now as a "new innovation" and a high price tag is slapped on every solution involving it, along with cameras, internet connectivity, and even robotics...
This is a very generalized means of elaborating on problem cited here of course... A much bigger conversation on this could be made.