Illness spreads across campus like wildfire every fall, whether a dangerous airborne pandemic is occurring or not. However, the spread of an autumnal virus doesn’t just come down to packed classroom conditions; ventilation systems in dormitories could be a major contributing factor to that sickly cough, based on information from the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
I first noticed the issue due to the amount of dust accumulating on the surfaces in my dorm despite a weekly cleaning. Ventilation systems are designed to circulate air around a space such that airborne dust particles are pulled into the system’s vent and removed via filters. Without a proper vent system in my dorm room, the dust will keep piling up no matter how much I clean.
Viral particles work the same way.
The CDC stated in a June press release that “protective ventilation practices… can reduce the airborne concentrations and reduce the overall viral dose to occupants” regarding COVID-19, and other respiratory infections can be mitigated similarly. According to a report by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, “a low ventilation rate increases the risk of exposure to virus-laden aerosols indoors” for illnesses such as tuberculosis and influenza, so improving ventilation could help prevent exposure.
So, why don’t any UO dorm rooms feature such an essential commodity?
Take the fifth floor of Kalapuya for example. Walking around the space, I was able to see that there are 2-3 residents per room and 52 rooms total, so there are anywhere from 104 to 156 residents packed together like sardines. If one of those hundred-something people were to get a respiratory sickness, it’s likely their roommate will also due to proximity. These two ill residents may need to get to classes or refill a water bottle at the filtration system on the first floor, therefore quarantining the room isn’t an option. Very few people have their windows open due to the below 45-degree temperature, making air in the rooms stagnant. Now take into account how few people consistently wear their masks in the halls when bouncing between rooms.
If a single person gets a bad cold in the dorms, it’s up to the luck of the draw — and a strong immune system — to determine whether a neighbor gets sick too.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, a study (which has not yet been peer reviewed) was conducted on the UO campus. It said the spread of the virus indoors is largely due to “particle accumulation in the air and increased connectivity between the individuals occupying indoor spaces.” The study even provided the first evidence “for decreased aerosol SARS-CoV-2 load with increasing ventilation” in the world, whether it be through mechanical ventilation or open windows. However, it’s far easier to open a window in August than it is in November due to dropping temperatures.
UO has some plausible deniability around not adding ventilation systems to the dorm buildings constructed prior to the pandemic because nobody had given such preventative measures much consideration before. The spread of COVID-19 has solved the terrible oversight for us, however, so UO must be held responsible for new constructions’ lack of ventilation.
When I reached out to director of housing Michael Griffel for a comment on the issue, I was put in touch with Saul Hubbard, media and communications manager at UO, instead.
“Natural ventilation is the primary system that the UO employs in residence hall rooms, in both older and newer facilities,” Hubbard said. For instance, the dorm rooms in Unthank do not feature a single air vent despite being built in the midst of the pandemic, much like Carson’s rooms which were built in 1949. Instead, each room features a single window for “natural ventilation” like Hubbard claimed.
UO has acknowledged the importance of ventilation as recently as Sept. 14 in a #ForwardTogether press release, but despite ample descriptions of increasing airflow and making efforts to install portable air filtration units in populated classrooms, it never once mentions dormitories.
Even though dormitories are essentially a petri dish for illness growth, UO seems to focus on increasing mechanical ventilation in classrooms and forgoing the prevention of viral spread where students spend the majority of their time.
Yes, the dorm rooms could be worse in terms of ventilation — at least we don’t live in the proposed, windowless dorm at University of California, Santa Barbara — but with a campus as nice as ours we shouldn’t need to compare our rooms to the bare minimum to justify underperformance.
I’m tired of falling asleep to the sound of coughing echoing down the hallway. I’m tired of open windows making my walk to the elevator one I need to bundle up for. I’m tired of living under the assumption that I will get sick living in a dorm building when it’s due to UO’s negligence rather than my own