By By Dan Hounsell

The COVID-19 pandemic tested nearly every component, system and process in healthcare facilities, and perhaps no system underwent more scrutiny than HVAC systems. 

And through it all, two truths emerged for the committee charged with the 2021 edition of the American National Standards Institute/ASHRAE/American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE) Standard 170, Ventilation of Health Care Facilities. First, the standard survived a pandemic, and second, the standard was prepared for its next edition, according to Health Facilities Management. 

There are a variety of better and best practice measures that the Standard 170 committee is assembling into guidance that might constitute a future white paper, but discussions of possible changes to the standard reveals that the core elements and strictures of ventilation for infection control have weathered the year as well as any other aspect of the environment of care.