PEF to Cuomo: Install COVID-blocking air filters for all state workers

[TexasTowelie]

ALBANY — One of the state's largest public labor unions is calling on Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to require buildings that house state workers to meet the same air-filtration standards that the governor recently said he will impose on large malls and potentially other private-sector businesses.

The Public Employees Federation (PEF) this week called on the Governor's Office of Employee Relations to mandate the installation of high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters to protect employees returning to offices as New York reemerges from a months-long “pause” on business operations to slow the spread of COVID-19.

“If New York state is mandating or recommending these filters for large public spaces, businesses and offices, then New York state should follow its own recommendations and ensure adequate air filtration for its own workers,” PEF President Wayne Spence said in a news release. “You must lead by example, and this is an opportunity for the governor to do that.”

Cuomo last week said large malls would be required to install HEPA filters before they could reopen.

Read more: https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/PEF-calls-on-Cuomo-to-install-COVID-blocking-air-15390949.php

[Maraya1969]

1. I agree with air filters but I do not think they can prevent viruses.

Unless I am missing something.

Although someone told me yesterday that even though viruses are smaller than the holes in masks they are attached to water molecules mostly and those would be stopped by the masks. Maybe that is the theory behind the HEPA filters.

[BComplex]

2. If only New York hadn't already spent their allowance for the next 10 years, they might be able to

afford HEPA filters for all the buildings housing state employees. New York just went first in the COVID pandemic, and spent their fortune trying to rake leaves in a whirlwind. I hope they get some government help. The rest of the nation learned a lot because of what New York went through.

I'm a southerner who totally admires what New York tried to do early on.