At First Town Hall, COVID Straight Talk Opens its M.A.D. Guidelines for Endorsement

Home > At First Town Hall, COVID Straight Talk Opens its M.A.D. Guidelines for Endorsement

At First Town Hall, COVID Straight Talk Opens its M.A.D. Guidelines for Endorsement

Written By Last Mile

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On Thursday, December 17th COVID Straight Talk held our first #ClearTheAir Town Hall on indoor air ventilation best practices to reduce workers’ risk of contracting COVID-19. We had over 90 attendees from across the world, including from Peru, Australia, US, UK, Spain, Mexico, and Japan. Below is a summary of what was discussed, including a review of our Masks, Air, and Distance (M.A.D.) Guidelines endorsement and the key points that were raised by the panelists.

During the Town Hall, we announced the opportunity for community-based organizations, unions, and “high road” employers to endorse our M.A.D. Guidelines. We made these guidelines to help stem the uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 through poor indoor air ventilation. We worked with scientists and policymakers to identify and recommend specific workplace changes and crucial safety practices for employers to implement. The M.A.D Guidelines are scientifically rigorous and backed as best practice by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and COVID Straight Talk’s advisory board of indoor air specialists, including: Dr. Linsey Marr, Dr. Lupita Montoya, Dr. Jose Luis Jimenez, Dr. Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg, Dr. Shelly Miller, Dr. Jarrad Hampton-Marcell, and Dr. Seema Bhangar.

“We’re partnering with Last Mile’s COVID Straight Talk because no one else is addressing these issues- which are: raising awareness that the coronavirus lingers in indoor air and encouraging people to follow simple guidelines around Masks, Air and Distance to keep themselves and their communities safer. The M.A.D. Guidelines are science-backed and represent the best thinking on indoor air and ventilation safety.” 

                                         — Paula Olsiewski, program officer at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Our speakers unanimously agreed that air ventilation is central to reducing the risk of contracting COVID-19. Due to the lack of US federal leadership on public health, indoor air ventilation as a COVID-19 safety issue is not well understood. Our speakers urged the audience to take action to improve air ventilation wherever they are and to follow our M.A.D. Guidelines in order to protect themselves and each other. 

Divided into four parts (“Recognize”, “Learn”, “Implement”, and “Organize”), the Town Hall offered audience members a chance to understand the various aspects of how they and their organizations could take action to reduce essential workers’ risk of contracting COVID-19. 

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Watch the video of COVID Straight Talk’s #ClearTheAir Town Hall to learn more about the guidelines and how to implement them in small businesses, windowless workspaces, and workplaces without HVAC systems.

A full list of our speakers is below:

PART 1: RECOGNIZE – Importance of Indoor Air Safety

  • Dr. Paula Olsiewski, @polsiewski, indoor microbiology & chemistry, biosecurity, pandemic preparedness, Program Director at  Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Contributing Scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security 

PART 2: LEARN – How to Clean Your Air

  • Dr. Lupita Montoya, @drlupitamotoya, indoor air quality & aerosol science, Research Affiliate in the Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering department at the University of Colorado Boulder

  • Ananya Iyengar, @ananya13, Content Lead at Last Mile, Undergraduate at Northeastern University 

  • Dr. Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg, @Wymelenberg, Last Mile Advisor, Professor of Architecture, Director of the Institute for Health in the Built Environment, Director of the Biology & the Built Environment Center, University of Oregon.

PART 3: IMPLEMENT – The M.A.D. Guidelines

  • Moderated by Amanda Altman, Labor and Community Organizer, Last Mile

  • Maritza Silva-Farrell, @maritzasf, Executive Director at ALIGN, convener of the NY Essential Workers Table 

  • Clara Wheatley-Schaller, Political Coordinator, Workers United NY/NJ @NailTechsUnited

  • Izzi Greenberg, @mxchildren, Executive Director at Middlesex Coalition for Children and

  • Dr. Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg, @Wymelenberg, Last Mile Advisor, Professor of Architecture, Director of the Institute for Health in the Built Environment, Director of the Biology & the Built Environment Center, University of Oregon.

  • Dr. Lupita Montoya, @drlupitamotoya, indoor air quality & aerosol science, Research Affiliate in the Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering department at the University of Colorado Boulder

  • Dr. Paula Olsiewski, @polsiewski, indoor microbiology & chemistry, biosecurity, pandemic preparedness, Program Director at  Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Contributing Scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security 

  • LiJia Gong, @ljgong, Counsel, Public Rights, @public_rights

PART 4: ORGANIZE – Creating Change





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