8 Comments

Oh Bonnie, Did my heart good to read that. Your MS friend is so lucky to have you in her life!

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I am so lucky to have the friends I have. The one at lunch this week? Speaks (and teaches) at least four languages and has a fascinating history. So it's two-way luckiness.

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Nice story, Bonnie. We bought 2 Corsi Rosenthal boxes made with computer fans from https://www.cleanairkits.com/ a year ago. Our family has 2 20-somethings who are done with lockdown and take many risks, bringing them home to my husband and me. These CR boxes are whisper quiet and run 24/7 in the room we spend the most time in. They are a bit flimsy in construction (very thin panels, for instance) but the filters pick up all airborne cat hair and get grey very quickly. They are quite unobtrusive also. We have avoided infections in the year we've had them, even if the kids did not. We are very happy with them. Cheaper than hepa, way quieter than CR boxes, easy to change and source furnace filters. 👍 🙂

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I've heard that CR boxes made with computer fans are quiet. Your experience with them is the first solid account I've heard about how protective they can be. With your family situation, you and your husband staying well is quite a feat.

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You are definitely an empath, Bonnie. You go the extra mile both for your own health and that of your friends. When I had a dental appointment in 2020, the dentist had a nice sized HEPA filter in every exam room. I got one for our office at work but it was loud as heck so we tended to turn it on only after we'd left the office. It was bought at one of the designated GSA shops, which might have been part of the problem. They didn't have the exact one the dentist had, which Amazon did. I hate government contractors.

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Many of the room-sized HEPA filters are loud when they are on high speed. If you were required to get a model that isn't among the quieter ones, I can understand that it might be obnoxious at lower speeds too. I'm sorry you were stuck with that. I wish you could have gotten a quieter one and run it, but the rules probably said you had to use only whatever the government procured.

We have two room-sized HEPA filters at our house. The second one is a little fancier. It has an activated carbon layer for times when the dogs are especially farty. (Some of their favorite chew treats or foods do that.) Either filter is capable of processing the air in our living room at least 5 to 6 times per hours--on high. That's too loud. We run them both on medium for at least as much filtration but quiet enough for conversation.

My mother's dentist is like your 2020 dentist. Good, big HEPA filters for each exam room. Our dentist here? They'll wear baggy blue face masks if we insist, but that's all.

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Rest assured the gesture was appreciated all round the table. Sorry we're not hardy enough to eat outside!

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I was glad to see so much curiosity around the table about the filter. No one thing (other than being a hermit) would be completely protective against colds, flu, etc. That little filter is one more layer. The more layers, the better.

My wife and I have the right gear for being outside year round. It took some time to figure out all the pieces of kit. I was probably wearing more clothes than any of you, but I planned to eat outdoors. My FFP3 stays on inside places like that.

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