From: DCHAS Membership Chair <membership**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] PEER files complaint for NYC teachers
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2020 14:04:28 -0400
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID: E2ED1575-F155-4853-BA4F-CF95D472CEB4**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Note Monona's technical analysis of the role of ventilation in managing Covid concerns is the meat of the complaint available at the URL below.

- Ralph

Here are the first three paragraphs of a Press Release from PEER. I'm proud to say I'm referenced in the Complaint and my report is Exhibit A. Monona

For Immediate Release: Monday, October 5, 2020
Contact: Kyla Bennett (508)230-9933; Joel Kupferman (917) 414-1983; Kirsten Stade kstade**At_Symbol_Here**peer.org

NYC SCHOOLS LACK VENTILATION TO STOP COVID SPREAD

Teachers File Complaint Charging Unsafe Conditions in Re-Opened Schools New York ‰??
Many New York City schools lack sufficient ventilation to stem the spread of COVID-19 making them unsafe to reoccupy, according to a complaint filed today on behalf of teachers by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Environmental Justice Initiative (EJI). The complaint to the state Labor Department seeks inspections to determine whether schools are ventilated and filtrated to adequately protect teachers, students, and staff from exposure to airborne SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Filed under the Public Employee Safety and Health Act (PESH), the complaint comes from 56 public school teachers at nine campuses in Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan, but is based on conditions that appear to be prevalent throughout the New York City school system. The gist of the complaint is that: 1) most school buildings are improperly ventilated; and 2) the Department of Education‰??s minimalistic ventilation standards do not prevent the spread of COVID-19 or protect staff.

‰??The core concern is that most New York‰??s schools are incubators rather than safe havens from Coronavirus,‰?? stated PEER Science Policy Director Kyla Bennett, a scientist and attorney formerly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, noting the reliance on the ‰??tissue test‰?? to see if there is enough circulation to move a piece of toilet paper on a stick. ‰??New York‰??s education ventilation standards for schools are simply not designed for virus control.‰??

The whole complaint is at:
https://www.peer.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/10_5_20_PESH_complaint.pdf
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