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Table 1: Accepted and recommended cfm/person rates <br />Purpose <br />cfm/person <br />Rmks & Citations <br />Auditorium <br />5 <br />outside air [8] <br />Museum <br />9 <br />outside air <br />[8] <br />Office <br />17 <br />outside air <br />[8] <br />Office <br />20 <br />outside air [11] <br />Improved cognition <br />40 <br />outside air [8] <br />Airborne pathogen mitigation <br />52 <br />outside air [11] <br />densely occupied hospitals with poor ventilation" [8]. See [8] for a concise <br />history of officially recommended minimum ventilation rates which have <br />ranged from 29 cfm/person to as low as 5 cfm/person in the 1970s to <br />conserve energy. According to [8] improvements in building occupant <br />productivity were shown when the outside air ventilation rate was increased <br />from 20 cfm/person to 40 cfm/person. <br />At least one pre-SARS-CoV-2 commentary on airborne pathogen <br />mitigation suggests that the minimum value should be as high as 52 <br />cfm/person[11]. Table 1 summarizes some of the accepted and <br />recommended cfm/person rates. <br />Given the likely importance of room ventilation relative to room <br />occupancy, every commercial and public building operator should strive to <br />know the cfm/person of clean air in every room of every building including <br />restrooms and break rooms. As a consumer, before spending any time in a <br />work space, a public space, or an aircraft, I want a reasonable estimate of <br />the cfm/person in that environment. As the general public becomes more <br />educated about issues with aerosols and ventilation[12, 13], I expect there <br />will be more demand for this kind of detailed information. <br />Acknowledgements <br />The opinions expressed in this short memo are mine only. I prepared [10] <br />for reprinting on demand, but I derive no revenue from it. A few of my <br />colleagues read this memo and I thank them for their comments two of <br />which are enumerated below: <br />3 <br />