Recent Media Interviews & Webinars
New Sensor Tells You How Well Your Mask Is Working
Sophie Bushwick, Scientific American, January 12, 2022
“We would all like to have this for every respirator—not just in health care—that would tell you continuously if you are achieving a good fit, or it would warn you if you were not,” she says. But Brosseau is not convinced that FaceBit can consistently measure fit. “It has some promise, perhaps, from that perspective, but they have not tested it or validated it in a way that I would accept,” she adds. Read the full article at Scientific American.
Webinar - Face Coverings and Respirators - Filling the Gaps
Simon Smith, Lisa Brosseau, Amanda Jones, Maria Negulescu, Stacy Richardson
Hosted by the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers, Inc., March 5, 2021. Access here.
During the pandemic, information about face coverings has become confusing and a point of contention. Most people want to find the best way to protect themselves and others. There is a lot of confusion between “masks”, “respirators” and various other types of face coverings. In this session, an interdisciplinary team provides guidance on some of the many questions that are being asked by workplace parties and the public.
Webinar - ASTM F3407 Respirator Fit Capability Standard: General Overview and Impact on Work Settings
Hosted by NIOSH, February 23, 2021. Access here.
Review of new ASTM standard that describes testing procedures for half-facepiece particulate respirator fit on a panel of human subjects.
Webinar Series - COVID-19 AEROSOLS: Investigation and Utilization of Ventilation to Improve Safety Indoors
Hosted by 3Flow, January 2021
Tom Smith & Lisa Brosseau
3 webinar series discussing the importance of small particle inhalation and ventilation design in indoor spaces for COVID-19. Watch here.
WEBINAR - IMPROVING RESPIRATORY PROTECTION FOR STAFF DURING COVID-19
RESEARCH, CASE STUDIES & APPLICATIONS IN HEALTHCARE
TSI Hosted Webinar
December 2020
TSI® and expert guest speakers discuss how healthcare facilities can improve respiratory protection for staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. This webinar will include research updates on COVID-19 transmission and information on how to reduce transmission through various types of respiratory protection and respirator fit testing. The information presented will include research, novel approaches, and example cases from peer healthcare facilities. Watch here.
WEBINAR - COVID-19 AEROSOL TRANSMISSION BIOLOGICAL PLAUSIBILITY & IMPLICATIONS FOR WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY
COVID-19 Response Lessons Learned, Northwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety, October 2020
This presentation describes the data that support aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and what aerosol transmission means for workplace health and safety. Watch the replay.
WEBINAR - COVID19 LOOKING BACK AND GOING FORWARD, LESSONS LEARNED SO FAR
COVID-19 Response Lessons Learned, Northwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety, October 2020
This presentation describes lessons we learned from the 2003 SARS and 2009 novel H1N1 pandemics and their implications for today’s pandemic, reviews past pandemic influenza planning recommendations, and discusses the interventions that successfully ended the Wuhan China outbreak. What do these mean for the US today and going forward? Watch the replay.
WEBINAR - PROTECTING WORKERS FROM COVID-19: TRANSMISSION, VENTILATION AND THE LAW
Manitoba Federation of Labour Occupational Health Centre, October 2020
Three experts discuss SARS-CoV-2 transmission, ventilation controls, and legal protections for workers. Watch the replay.
WEBINAR: THE ROLE OF INFECTIOUS DOSE AND THE HIERARCHY OF PREVENTION (CONTROLS) FOR COVID-19
July 8, 2020 Occupational Health Clinics
for Ontario Workers
International experts in infection control, occupational hygiene, and respiratory protection will discuss up to science, controls and methodology related to exposure to coronavirus and prevention of COVID-19. This session will build on the science delivered in session 1, and provide advice on the importance of the hierarchy of controls (HOC) which includes ventilation as a higher order control along with appropriate and effective personal protective equipment (PPE). Watch the replay.
WEBINAR: MINIMIZING WORKPLACE EXPOSURES THROUGH DESIGN AND ENGINEERING CONTROLS
National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences July 1, 2020
In response to COVID-19, the NIEHS Worker Training Program (WTP) has been conducting webinars and presentations on technical topics related to COVID-19 with a focus on protecting workers who may be at risk of exposure to COVID-19. Watch the replay.
WEBINAR: WORKPLACE HEALTH
WITHOUT BORDERS
WHWB June 25, 2020
A presentation to the Workplace Health Without Borders teleconference by Dr. Lisa Brosseau on Infectious Dose and COVID-19. The presentation was followed by a very interesting Q&A and discussion session. You can access the audio recording of the discussion session, along with the slides and chat box text, in this folder .
WEBINAR: COVID 19 AEROSOL TRANSMISSION MASKS AND RESPIRATORS
ASSP NORTHWEST CHAPTER
WEBINAR: COVID-19 AEROSOL TRANSMISSION & RESPIRATORY PROTECTION
TSI - April 29, 2020
The webinar covers the following topics:
CLOSE RANGE AEROSOL TRANSMISSION OF COVID-19
RESPIRATORS BEYOND N95S AND RESPIRATOR FIT TEST METHODS
FIT TESTING RESPIRATORS IN LESS TIME
WEBINAR: EXPOSURE PREVENTION FOR COVID-19 ESSENTIAL WORKERS
NIEHS April 1, 2020
In response to COVID-19, the NIEHS Worker Training Program (WTP) has been conducting webinars and presentations on technical topics related to COVID-19 with a focus on protecting workers who may be at risk of exposure to COVID-19. Watch the replay.
It's Time to Upgrade Your Face Mask
Corinne Stremmel, MSP Magazine, January 13, 2022
Back in the early days of COVID, it wasn’t quite understood how the virus spread, originally scientists believed that it was spread through large droplets from coughing or sneezing, which can be mitigated with a cloth mask.
“But that isn’t the primary way COVID transmits. It’s those very small particles that stay in the air, and you want a mask that will prevent both emission and inhalation. The cloth masks don’t protect you when inhaling,” said Brosseau. Read the full article here.
New Playbook for Covid-19 Protection Emerges After Year of Study, Missteps
Wall Street Journal, January 26, 2021 by Daniela Hernandez, Sarah Toy, Caitlin McCabe
Scientists are settling on a road map that can help critical sectors of the economy safely conduct business, from meatpacking plants to financial services, despite the pandemic’s continued spread. Read here.
AEROSOL TRANSMISSION: 4 REASONS WHY WE’RE NOT READY TO FIGHT FUTURE OUTBREAKS
Katie McBride, Inverse Magazine, May 13, 2021
“LAST FRIDAY, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) acknowledged what aerosol and respiratory infection experts have been saying for nearly a year: you can contract Covid-19 through the inhalation of infectious aerosol particles.
But those same experts say that acknowledging reality is the bare minimum. They’re now pushing assemblies like the CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO) to look beyond the now and toward preventing future pandemics. To do that, they argue, we need to radically change our approach to airborne pathogens.” Read the article here.
Press Briefing: Leading Physicians and Scientists: Immediate Action Is Needed for Inhalation Exposure to SARS-Co-V2
Hosted by AIHA, February 18, 2021 Watch here.
13 scientists sent a letter to Mr. Zients and Drs. Anthony Fauci and Rochelle Walensky requesting immediate action to address SARS-CoV-2 inhalation exposure. Signatories:
Rick Bright, PhD, Former Director of BARDA, Dept of Health and Human Services
Lisa M. Brosseau, ScD, CIH, University of Minnesota CIDRAP
Lynn R. Goldman, MD, MS, MPH, George Washington University
Céline Gounder, MD, ScM, NYU Grossman School of Medicine & Bellevue Hospital Center
Yoshihiro Kawaoka, DVM, PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Tokyo
Linsey Marr, PhD, Virginia Tech
David Michaels, PhD, MPH, George Washington University
Donald K. Milton, MD, DrPH, University of Maryland
Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, University of Minnesota CIDRAP
Kimberly Prather, PhD, University of California San Diego
Robert T. Schooley, MD, University of California San Diego
Peg Seminario, MS, AFL-CIO (retired)
NIOSH Science Blog: Overview of the ASTM F3407 Standard Test Method for Respirator Fit Capability
Christopher Coffey, PhD; Lisa Brosseau, ScD, CIH; M. E. Bonnie Rogers, DrPH; and Jonathan Szalajda, MS
Posted January 26, 2021
ASTM International developed the ASTM F3407 – 20 Standard Test Method for Respirator Fit Capability for Negative-Pressure Half-Facepiece Particulate Respirators (RFC Standard), which was published on October 13, 2020. The purpose of the RFC standard is to increase the probability that available respirators fit a general worker population. Respirators meeting this standard will still have to be fit tested in the workplace on each wearer as required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The RFC Standard does not guarantee that a respirator will fit every wearer.
Confronting the notion that face masks reduce COVID 'dose'
CIDRAP News, November 2, 2020 Mary Van Beusekom
“When two physicians at the University of California at San Francisco published a commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) on Sep 8 proposing to resurrect the 18th century practice of variolation using face coverings to prevent severe COVID-19 and confer immunity, the Internet lit up with headlines such as "Coronavirus: Another reason for that mask: You'll get less sick."
The paper, written by Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH, and George Rutherford, MD, suggested that face coverings, in the absence of a vaccine, could reduce the inhaled dose of coronavirus by filtering some virus-containing droplets, leading to asymptomatic or mild disease and stimulating T- and B-cell immunity.
Concerned that the piece, its positioning in a top medical journal, and the resulting media coverage would embolden people to abandon physical distancing and other public health measures in favor of only wearing face coverings, scientists warned against the practice in two letters to the editor in the same journal on Oct 23.”
To the Editor: Facial Masking for Covid-19
New England Journal of Medicine, October 23, 2020
By: Lisa M Brosseau, Chad Roy, Michael T. Osterholm
Gandhi and Rutherford’s theory regarding the potential for variolation by means of facial masking is not consistent with the emerging science of transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Read more here.
AFTER A 6-MONTH HIATUS DUE TO COVID, FEDERAL JURY TRIALS RESUME IN MINNESOTA
Star Tribune, September 23, 2020
For six months, the federal courts in the Twin Cities conducted no trials, hamstrung by a COVID-19 threat that could make any face-to-face encounter perilous. But this week, with retrofitted courtrooms in Minneapolis and St. Paul, trials resumed…Read the interview.
MASKS ALONE DON’T MAKE YOU INVINCIBLE
Vice News, August 11, 2020
Covering your face can help combat the coronavirus. But some scientists fear people now believe masks of any quality are foolproof defenses—and they're being labeled as "anti-mask" for saying so. Read the interview.
IF THE CORONAVIRUS IS REALLY AIRBORNE, WE MIGHT BE FIGHTING IT THE WRONG WAY
MIT Technology Review, July 11, 2020
“So what does “airborne” really mean in this context? It’s basically an issue of size. We’re pretty sure that SARS-CoV-2 is spread through tiny droplets that contain viral particles capable of leading to an infection. For a virus to be airborne, however, means a few different things, depending on the expert you’re talking to. Typically it means it can spread via inhalation over long distances, perhaps even through different rooms, of small particles known as aerosols. That’s why when you ask some of the professionals if the virus is airborne, they’ll say it’s not, because we’re not seeing transmission over those sorts of distances,” says Lisa Brosseau, a retired professor of public health who still consults for businesses and organizations. Read the interview.
HEALTH EXPERTS CALL ON WHO TO RECOGNIZE WIDESPREAD AIRBORNE TRANSMISSION OF SARS-COV-2, THE VIRUS THAT CAUSES COVID-19
Health Policy Watch, June 20, 2020
Talking and breathing can produce much tinier particles containing SARS-CoV-2, experts now believe. These particles can “remain suspended in air near the person who generated them” for sometime longer than previously believed, Dr Lisa Brosseau, an industrial hygienist researching aerosols at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) told Health Policy Watch. Read the interview.
A TINY HOSPITAL IN TEXAS MIGHT HELP SOLVE THE MASK SHORTAGE
Elemental, April 16, 2020
For decades, staff have used a mask that’s much more effective than the N95, and is reusable.
Read the article.
IAQ Radio Show - Going Back to Work and School During a Pandemic
Interview with Lisa Brosseau & Tom Peters, May 14, 2021.
Reviewing the resources and discussing tips and tools on the ACGIH COVID-19 Resources website. Recording here.
ACGIH COVID-19 Resources
As many are returning to their traditional workplace, OEHS professionals are tasked with providing an environment which minimizes risk. In 2020 ACGIH formed the Pandemic Response Task Force. Led by Dr. Lisa Brosseau, the task force began compiling resources and producing fact sheets to highlight the importance of infectious aerosol inhalation and describe tools for prioritizing risks and selecting appropriate controls.
Access fact sheets and resources here.
Protecting Essential Workers
University of Minnesota, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
Our economy and society rely on workers that face great risks because their jobs may require them to be in close or prolonged contact with co-workers or members of the public. These essential workers may perform jobs in healthcare, food processing, warehousing, retail, transportation, security, etc. Essential workers need the best possible protection from infectious respiratory aerosols in their jobs to prevent COVID-19.
Overall, the best interventions for preventing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in a workplace are those that eliminate or minimize the source followed by those that interrupt the path from source to recipients. The third category of intervention, focused on uninfected people (recipients), should only be undertaken when all source and pathway interventions have been put in place.
Prominent Scientists Call on CDC to Better Protect Workers From COVID
Kaiser Health News, February 17, 2021 by Christina Jewett
A prominent group of academics is pressing the Biden administration to move faster and take stronger action to protect high-risk workers from airborne exposure to the coronavirus, urging enforceable standards to help safeguard risky workplaces including health care, food processing and prisons. Read the article.
AEROSOL COVID-19 TRANSMISSION COULD IMPACT RE-OPENINGS
Boston 25 News, July 13, 2020
They are the two words that have come to define the Covid-19 pandemic: social distancing. But staying six feet apart may not be enough in certain indoor spaces, according to more than 200 scientists from around the globe, who petitioned the World Health Organization (WHO) to recognize the importance of aerosolized transmission of the virus. Read the interview.
WHY SCIENTISTS THINK COVID-19 MAY BE SPREAD THROUGH PARTICLES IN THE AIR
ABC News, July 8, 2020
"We've got clusters of person to person transmission happening indoors and there is asymptomatic transmission going on, no coughing, no sneezing, no large droplets being generated and splashed into people's face," said Dr. Lisa Brosseau, an aerosol specialist and research consultant at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. She said that in these scenarios the most likely mode of transmission is inhalation of particles in the air. Read the interview.
HOW EXACTLY DO YOU CATCH COVID-19? THERE IS A GROWING CONSENSUS
Wall Street Journal, June 16, 2020
Six months into the coronavirus crisis, there’s a growing consensus about a central question: How do people become infected? It’s not common to contract Covid-19 from a contaminated surface, scientists say. And fleeting encounters with people outdoors are unlikely to spread the coronavirus. Instead, the major culprit is close-up, person-to-person. Read the article.
AS MASK USE RISES DRAMATICALLY, EVIDENCE FOR THEIR EFFECTIVENESS IS SPARSE AND CONTESTED
Just the News, May 21, 2020
Masks are actually 'not better than nothing,' one expert says; another argues for the 'precautionary principle' Read the article.
YOUR MASK MAY NOT BE ENOUGH IF COVID-19 IS IN THE AIR
Daily Beast, April 11, 2020
A growing crowd of experts say coronavirus can spread via aerosols, or viral particles produced by talking, breathing, singing, and even exercise. Read the article.