Climate Change / COVID-19 / Pandemic Safe Buildings February 3, 2021 Pandemic Safe Buildings Pandemic Safe Buildings by Lorien Pratt Powered by Brown university says that schools can experience close to zero infection rates, despite local community spread From globalepidemics.org – December 19, 2020 1:44 PM “Evidence gathered this fall around the world and in the U.S. suggests that schools can open, even in conditions of wide community spread, and achieve low and even near zero transmission in the school building. This evidence, combined with the benefits to learners of in-person schooling and harms of remote schooling, suggests that the time has come to pursue in-person learning across most school contexts, provided that the school in question has established reasonable infection control protocols to safeguard student, educator (including paraprofessionals), and staff safety. The federal governments should include investments in school infection control in the next coronavirus relief package.…The most important elements of infection control that matter are: universal masking (including while speaking) hand and bathroom hygiene achieving 4-6 air changes per hour of ‘clean’ air through any combination of ventilation and filtration (or outdoor classrooms) 3 ft social distancing for young learners at all levels of community spread 6ft social distancing for high schools when levels of community spread rise above 100/100,000 daily new cases; 3ft social distancing below that level robust quarantine policies and contact tracing practices and, where feasible, surveillance/screening testing, also discussed below under “testing.†“(boldface mine) Lorien Pratts insight: General-purpose guidelines for all schools, which promises near-zero infection rates. If this is true (I haven’t validated the research behind it myself yet: please drop me a line if you have) it’s very important news. Pandemic Response Challenge XPrize focuses on non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs); $500K in prizes From xprize.org – December 16, 2020 4:28 PM “Today there are over 55 million documented COVID-19 cases and over 1.3 million deaths, impacting countries and territories worldwide. As vaccines are developed and countries implement recovery plans, regional authorities lack the ability to test “what if†intervention plans that optimize COVID-19 mitigation strategies while reducing the economic and social impacts.” Lorien Pratts insight: This is a very important project, which includes both predictive and prescriptive analytics.  Your Building Designs – a Unique Source of Data to Fight Covid-19 – PANDAA From www.pandaa-sim.com – December 12, 2020 8:14 PM Although a large volume of research has been done on the epidemiology of the virus, no single efforts have integrated infection, human movement, and facility engineering modelling which can be instantly applied to workspaces. Creating this holistic view has been a key product of our prototype development. Lorien Pratts insight: Understanding the pandemic requires a combination of CAD drawing analysis for specific building shapes, modeling human movement, and an understanding of how aerosolized particles move through a space. Building Solutions Marks 30 Years With School Improvement Initiative From facilityexecutive.com – December 12, 2020 4:57 PM Dallas-based Building Solutions commits to donating 3,000 hours to schools in the North Texas area to perform facility assessments…Building Solutions has been an advisor to commercial real estate investors and developers, private schools, churches, and municipalities for 30 years. By pairing their technical expertise with their robust network, the company aims to not only identify the inequities in school facilities but also assist in capital fundraising for potential campus updates and as a result, help improve a student’s health, behavior, engagement, learning, and growth in achievement. Lorien Pratts insight: A consulting firm’s pro bono effort to evaluate school buildings along multiple fronts, including pandemic health and contributions to learning inequality. In the pandemic, the low-rise is the new high-rise From www.nytimes.com – December 12, 2020 4:51 PM ” [so-called] Groundscrapers tend to have multiple entrances, in contrast to the typical skyscraper, which funnels everyone through a single lobby. The decentralization of arrivals and departures can help with social distancing, experts say.” Lorien Pratts insight: Here’s an interesting perspective on how low-rise buildings are more pandemic safe than high-rises. “Dead-End” Spaces: the Hidden Coronavirus Hotspots That May Be Lurking Inside Buildings From www.pandaa-sim.com – December 12, 2020 3:22 PM “…the specific design of a building’s interior (along with other factors such as the HVAC system) can create invisible “hot zones†where concentrations of airborne agents, such as pathogens, CO, CO 2 , and radioactive decay products, for example, can be considerably higher than average levels measured elsewhere in the building.” Lorien Pratts insight: The six-foot rule is a dangerous oversimplification Your building designs – a unique source of data to fight COVID-19 From datainnovation.ai – December 5, 2020 5:18 PM “…our objective is to advise business leaders on what they can do to prevent COVID-19 transmission through their facilities, hence we needed a model for how infection spreads within indoor spaces. Although we can see that a large volume of research has been done on the epidemiology of the virus, no single efforts have integrated infection, human movement and facility engineering modelling which can be instantly applied to workspaces. Creating this holistic view has been a key product of our prototype development.” Lorien Pratts insight: To maximize pandemic safety, you need to go beyond simply tracking virus movement to also understanding human movement and the effect of the interventions that you place within your building. Shifting from data- to decision-centric thinking for COVID19 safety – PANDAA From www.pandaa-sim.com – November 30, 2020 11:59 PM Lorien Pratts insight: COVID19 data is necessary, but is in many situations not sufficient, to make good decisions in complex environments. Center for Active Design Launches Fitwel Viral Response Module From www.prnewswire.com – November 30, 2020 9:40 PM “/PRNewswire/ — Fitwel®, the healthy building certification system operated by The Center for Active Design (CfAD), today announced the formal launch of the Fitwel Viral Response Module” Lorien Pratts insight: “The Center for Active Design (CfAD) was launched by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2012, to transform New York City’s groundbreaking Active Design program into an international movement. … CfAD is the preeminent global not-for-profit organization working at the intersection of health and the built environment. We transform design and development practice to support health and ensure equitable access to vibrant public and private spaces that support optimal quality of life. … Fitwel was originally created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and U.S. General Services Administration. The CDC remains the research and evaluation partner for Fitwel. The Center for Active Design, a global not-for-profit organization, was selected as the licensed operator of Fitwel, charged with expanding Fitwel to the global market.” To my understanding, the Viral Response module reviews and certifies buildings as complying with various requirements to establish policies to cover a number of topics, including, “Enhance Indoor Environment”, “Encourage Behavioral Change”, and “Build Occupant Trust”. Importantly, it does not certify buildings themselves, rather like many similar certification organizations (ISO 9000, CMM), Fitwel focuses on policies, and leaves the details of those policies to the building developers, architects, managers, and other clients. ‘Tell me what to do! Please!’: Even experts struggle with coronavirus unknowns From www.washingtonpost.com – November 30, 2020 3:58 PM Brian Nosek, a University of Virginia psychology professor who has devoted his career to making scientific data more reliable and trustworthy, is frustrated. Like everyone else, he’s trying to understand the pandemic, particularly in his own community of Charlottesville, and in California, where he has family. So he wonders: Where is the virus spreading? Where is it suppressed? Where are people social distancing as they should, and where are they not? Where will he and his family be safe? In this pandemic, we’re swimming in statistics, trends, models, projections, infection rates, death tolls. Nosek has professional expertise in interpreting data, but even he is struggling to make sense of the numbers. “What’s crazy is, we’re three months in, and we’re still not able to calibrate our risk management. It’s a mess,†said Nosek, who runs the Center for Open Science, which advocates for transparency in research. “Tell me what to do! Please!†In her Institute for the Future talk broadcast on national television, Dr. Lorien Pratt shows her prototype immersive visualization DI tool and offers new insights on Decision Intelligence. From www.c-span.org – November 30, 2020 3:57 PM You have a new superpower. Your choices have ripple effects throughout the world, and you have no idea what those impacts will be. Part of the future of DI is to understand that there are systematic patterns to those impacts.   Dr. Pratt demos an immersive visualization tool that lets us see these patterns and interactions, make changes, and see immediately how these changes lead to different outcomes.   I think there are a lot of people who feel overwhelmed by information. The executives I talk with say this in particular, “I don’t want to talk with these quants; I can’t … understand a word that they say.†If they have interfaces like this [visualization tool], they will engage with the evidence, the data, and the AI …I think that the biggest initial impact will be in our sense of agency, that we will balance out the inequity that comes when technologists dominate…and send us things and make us click things and make us do things, and we start to use this for our own needs …….[greater] equality…We democratized the computer, didn’t we? Let’s democratize AI [other] complex [technologies, too]. New York Yankees: Yankee Stadium Becomes First Sports Venue in the World to Achieve WELL Health-Safety Rating From empiresportsmedia.com – November 30, 2020 3:40 PM The rating requirements, which have been fulfilled by the club, serve as a blueprint for best operating procedures to help combat COVID-19, while also providing world-class standards for overall health and safety. Lorien Pratts insight: To maximize pandemic safety, we need to go beyond general-purpose government guidelines to building-specific assessments and remediation.The International Well Building Institute (IWBI) now assesses the COVID safety of buildings; the public can be reassured by a building that displays the WELL certification logo that it has been assessed rigorously.And Yankee Stadium has got one. Go Yankees! Some Owners Used Coronavirus To Clean Up Their Act – From commercialobserver.com – November 30, 2020 3:12 PM What is COVID-19 doing to the city’s extraordinarily ambitious plans to curb carbon emissions in buildings? It’s complicated. Lorien Pratts insight: Low commercial occupancies due to COVID19 means an opportunity for building owners to upgrade to meet new energy and emissions guidelines. Yet the air exchange requirements for COVID reduce energy efficiency. It’s a complex tradeoff. Your building might be making you sick. Joe Allen can help. – From news.harvard.edu – December 18, 2020 7:34 PM The project involves an environmental monitor small enough to fit on a desk that tracks air quality and ventilation; a wrist monitor that tracks sleep and physical activity; and an iPhone app that feeds researchers real-time data. Lorien Pratts insight: unifying personal health with building health data, Harvard’s Joe Allen’s most recent project builds on years of work studying all facets of safe buildings. ‘First line of defense’: COVID-19 prompts rethink in role of buildings From www.reuters.com – December 14, 2020 10:02 PM “From office workers to students, Americans facing colder weather and more time inside have a pressing question: How can they keep safe amid a pandemic that scientists say thrives in indoor settings? The search for answers has prompted a new look at what architects and their buildings can do to help, both now and in the future.” Lorien Pratts insight: A good introduction into how the pendemic is accelerating already important issue, which is how buildings can be as healthy as possible for the people who occupy them Your life may depend on where you sit or stand From www.washingtonpost.com – December 12, 2020 5:26 PM Earlier this year, two diners at a South Korean restaurant were infected with novel coronavirus in a matter of minutes from a third patron who sat at least 15 feet away from them. The third patron was asymptomatic at the time. After dissecting that scene from June, South Korean researchers released a study last month in the Journal of Korean Medical Science that suggests the virus, under certain airflow conditions, travels farther than six feet and can infect others in as little as five minutes. …The study confirms, says Milton [Donald Milton, professor of environmental health at the University of Maryland School of Public Health], that infected people “can shed virus into the air, and it can travel long distances, and the more air movement you got, the more you might have†the kind of scenario laid out in the South Korean restaurant study.With more the 20 years of experience in his field, Milton doesn’t think it’ll be another 100 years before the United States experiences a pandemic similar to the one we’re living through now. As such, he would like to see governments and entrepreneurs invest in technology to make buildings and public spaces safer in the future. Lorien Pratts insight: Every building is different; without a simulation tool like Pandaa it’s hard to find all the “dead-end spaces†where covid can hide.  You don’t want your diners to be safe at their tables but exposed when they step away to take a phone call.  And from a larger point of view, this study points out the general guidelines are just that – general. We need to be taking the great data and data analysis approaches we have obtained from precision marketing – and which are moving into precision medicine – into precision epidemiology. Windows, movable walls & furniture, outdoor space — How flexible school design makes socially distanced education work in a pandemic From laschoolreport.com – December 12, 2020 4:53 PM “As we evaluate our recently completed campuses, we’re finding that collaboration spaces, intended for bringing people together, are increasingly demonstrating their value. Movable partitions and a variety of furniture choices will allow classrooms to expand and create smaller learning zones. The ability to separate pods of students into separate physical spaces is going to be key going forward. It maintains those aspects of school that provide a social opportunity, serving a greater percentage of the student body in a pandemic environment.” Lorien Pratts insight: Some pre-pandemic decisions regarding flexible and open workspaces are having unplanned benefits for schools to protect students from the coronavirus. AAHOA, International WELL Building Institute Partner to Support Hoteliers From www.hotelbusiness.com – December 12, 2020 4:48 PM “IWBI recently introduced the WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management. The rating is an evidence-based rating focused on operational policies, maintenance protocols, emergency plans and stakeholder education, and works in conjunction with Safe Stay, providing additional confidence of third-party verification and a competitive advantage.” Lorien Pratts insight: It is essential to protect members of the public as they visit hotels, and the the Well Health Safety rating helps hoteliers to demonstrate that they follow best practices Calling all Data Scientists to the COVID19 challenge – PANDAA From www.pandaa-sim.com – December 8, 2020 1:18 PM THIS IS THE CHALLENGE OF YOUR LIFETIME. Maybe you’re thinking…”that’s a job for #epidemiology”, and you’re right, in part… Lorien Pratts insight: Some tough love for my #datascience and #softwarearchitecture friends: if you’re not actively helping to solve #covid19, you’re part of the problem. Scottish company DataInnovation.AI is born, partners with Quantellia for Decision Intelligence Solutions for COVID19 From datainnovation.ai – December 4, 2020 7:47 PM Data Innovation.AI was born as a company; set up specifically to create a Decision Intelligence Centre of Excellence and incubator, working in Partnership with our US Colleagues Quantellia LLC,  which would take ethical embryonic Ideas, assess whether DI and AI can be applied and develop those ethical ideas through R&D, proof of concept prototyping, piloting and hopefully through to a viable commercial product or solution, assisting leaders to make AI informed decisions  when faced with complexity, risk and uncertainty. Lorien Pratts insight: I am beyond thrilled to be working with DataInnovation.ai. These guys are doing amazing things and I expect will end up saving many lives with their fantastic work and great software ( 🙂 ). The BluePrint: #14 – Lorien Pratt: Decision Intelligence is the "glue" that allows us to use AI in new ways, such as for COVID19 safety From erikkorem.libsyn.com – November 30, 2020 9:50 PM Dr. Lorien Pratt is a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence and is credited for inventing transfer learning. Lorien is pushing the boundaries of technology as one of the creators and evangelists for Decision Intelligence, which is the next phase of Artificial Intelligence.Dr. Lorien Pratt is a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence and is credited for inventing transfer learning. Lorien is pushing the boundaries of technology as one of the creators and evangelists for Decision Intelligence, which is the next phase of Artificial Intelligence. In this episode, Lorien details how Decision Intelligence is merging human intelligence and artificial intelligence to create actions that lead to better outcomes.  If you find this episode valuable, would you please help us by providing a review at ratethispodcast.com/blueprint Lorien Pratts insight: I use COVID19 as an example in this podcast of how decision intelligence is connecting the power of AI as we see in a company like Google, Amazon, and Facebook to the pandemic. DI is the “glue” that allows us to use AI in new ways. WELL Health-Safety Rating | IWBI From www.wellcertified.com – November 30, 2020 4:58 PM Informed by insights from the WELL Building Standard—the world’s premier standard for advancing health and well-being in the places where we spend our lives—the WELL Health-Safety Rating accommodates all space types as well as the specific goals and concerns of different organizations and facilities. Lorien Pratts insight: I’m really excited about this rating; they have educational materials and specific offerings for Sports & Entertainment, Movie Theaters, Hotels & Resorts, Restaurants, Offices, Education, Retail, Multifamily, and Industrial sectors.  Decision Intelligence In The Time Of COVID-19 From www.forbes.com – November 30, 2020 3:57 PM In my situation, I believe that DI could have assisted me with the best action to take to achieve my ultimate goal, which is to drive engineering pride across SAP. … While we may be facing the biggest threat of our lifetime, the good news is that Decision Intelligence (DI) can leverage AI as well as epidemiological, social, and other knowledge sources to help. Including beautiful visualizations, DI can be used by policymakers, media, business leaders and individuals, to make and communicate the impact of their decisions in a complex world. Covid Indoors: Scrubbing Surfaces Does Little to Mitigate Threat – The New York Times From www.nytimes.com – November 30, 2020 3:47 PM Scientists who initially warned about contaminated surfaces now say that the virus spreads primarily through inhaled droplets, and that there is little to no evidence that deep cleaning mitigates the threat indoors. Lorien Pratts insight: YES. “Hygiene theatre” interferes with our ability to assess COVID19 risk. When combined with other disinformation, and the fact that our COVID19 knowledge is constantly changing, it gets in the way of making good decisions.Bottom line: it’s about air movement, not surfaces.  Joint Venture Nabs $68M Construction Loan on Luxe Rental Project in Connecticut – From commercialobserver.com – November 30, 2020 3:15 PM Sculptor Real Estate lent $68 million to a joint venture between Spinnaker and Eastpointe to build a luxury rental project in Bridgeport. Lorien Pratts insight: Due to increased working from home due to COVID19, NYC residents are increasingly moving to the suburbs, driving a boom in new construction. Here’s an example of one of the ways that COVID19 is changing the construction industry. No Comments