来源：《经济学人》
刊登日期：2021年5月29日
超纲词：sanitation，proxy，hygiene
In 1842 Edwin Chadwick, a British social reformer, published his “Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population”. He showed that poor sanitation was associated with poor health. The report eventually led British cities to organise clean water supplies, in turn reducing the prevalence of infectious diseases. Similar reforms around the world in the 20th century tackled food safety and outdoor-air pollution. Now a new public-health priority is becoming apparent: making indoor air cleaner.
1842年，英国社会改革家埃德温·查德威克发表了《劳动人口卫生状况报告》。他指出，卫生条件差与健康状况差有关。这份报告最终促使英国城市组织清洁供水，从而减少传染病的流行。20世纪，世界各地都进行了类似的改革，以解决食品安全和室外空气污染问题。现在，一个新的公共卫生优先事项正变得越来越明显：让室内空气更干净。
Take schools. They are “chronically under-ventilated”, according to the Lancet. A study of 100 American classrooms found 87 with worryingly low ventilation rates. Across Denmark, France, Italy, Norway and Sweden, researchers found that indoor-air quality in 66% of classrooms fell short of healthy standards. Outdoor-air pollution can penetrate inside buildings—childhood exposure can affect neurodevelopment and academic performance, and cause cancer.
以学校为例。据《柳叶刀》报道，学校“长期通风不足”。一项对100间美国教室的研究发现，87间教室的通风率低得令人担忧。在丹麦、法国、意大利、挪威和瑞典，研究人员发现66%的教室室内空气质量达不到健康标准。室外空气污染会渗透到建筑物内部，儿童时期的暴露会影响神经发育和学习成绩，并导致癌症。
The problem extends well beyond classrooms. Many people spend more than 90% of their time indoors. Researchers have linked under-ventilated spaces in buildings to a range of minor illnesses—headaches, fatigue, shortness of breath, coughs, dizziness and irritation of eye, nose, throat and skin. Poor ventilation has been blamed for increased absences from work and decreased productivity.
这个问题远远不止发生在教室里。许多人90%以上的时间都待在室内。研究人员已经将建筑物内通风不足与一系列轻微疾病联系起来——头痛、疲劳、呼吸短促、咳嗽、头晕以及眼、鼻、喉和皮肤不适。通风不良被认为是导致缺勤增加和生产力下降的原因。
The pandemic has brought a new urgency to the matter. The virus which causes covid-19 spreads between people less by close contact and infected surfaces and more by thumb a lift on aerosol particles from people’s lungs that can linger in the air of an ill-ventilated room.
新冠大流行使这一问题变得更加紧迫。新冠病毒较少通过密切接触和受感染的表面在人与人之间传播，更多的是通过搭乘人们肺部的气溶胶颗粒，这些气溶胶颗粒可以停留在通风不良的房间的空气中。
Indoor-air quality has attracted little government attention. But achieving clean air in buildings and indoor public spaces is possible. The first step is to give people more information on how well-ventilated their air is. Carbon-dioxide concentrations are a good proxy for ventilation, and cheap sensors to detect this gas in rooms could provide occupants with useful data on when to open windows or upgrade their air-conditioning systems. National indoor-air-quality standards would help. One way to enforce them could be through ventilation certificates for buildings, similar to food-hygiene certificates that already exist for restaurants.
室内空气质量很少引起政府的注意。但在建筑物和室内公共空间实现清洁空气是可能的。第一步是向人们提供更多关于空气流通状况的信息。二氧化碳浓度是衡量通风情况的很好的指标，检测房间里二氧化碳的廉价传感器可以为居住者提供有用的数据，告诉他们何时打开窗户或升级空调系统。制定国家室内空气质量标准会有所帮助。执行这些标准的一种可行方法是办法建筑通风证书，类似于已经用于餐饮业的食品卫生证书。
The bill for all this need not be huge. A recent study found that raising the standard of ventilation in all American elementary and secondary schools to the minimum level would cost less than 0.1% of the country’s typical public spending on education. President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan assigns $123bn to improving school infrastructure and mentions ventilation as a priority. Other countries should follow suit.
所有这一切的费用不一定很大。最近的一项研究发现，将美国所有中小学的通风标准提高到最低合格水平所需的费用不到美国一般公共教育支出的0.1%。美国总统乔•拜登的“美国救援计划”拨出1230亿美元用于改善学校基础设施，并将通风列为优先事项。其他国家也应该效仿。
Ventilation is the forgotten part of the agenda for improved public health. Chadwick’s report on sanitation lifted people’s expectation that the water coming out of their taps would be clean. Covid-19 should lead policymakers to ensure, belatedly, that the same is true for the air in people’s buildings.
通风是改善公共卫生议程中被遗忘的部分。查德威克关于卫生设施的报告提高了人们的期望，即从水龙头流出的水应该是干净的。新冠疫情应促使政策制定者确保人们建筑中的空气也是如此，尽管有些迟了。