Ventilation and Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Deciding to go out?

When going out, consider that indoor spaces can be more risky than the outdoors, since it is generally harder to keep people apart and there is less ventilation indoors.

For more information on how to be prepared and stay safe if going out, see CDC's webpage, Deciding to go out.

An important approach to lowering the concentrations of indoor air pollutants or contaminants including any viruses that may be in the air is to increase ventilation – the amount of outdoor air coming indoors. Ensuring proper ventilation with outside air can help reduce the concentration of airborne contaminants, including viruses, indoors. Proper ventilation also reduces surface contamination by removing some virus particles before they can fall out of the air and land on surfaces. However, by itself, increasing ventilation is not enough to protect people from COVID-19. When used along with other best practices recommended by CDC and others, increasing ventilation can be part of a plan to protect people indoors.