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Covid-19 and Our Environment, Webinar on July 21

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People standing at a long table measuring and packaging ingredients
Laboratory of Pharmacy, Hospital Supply Service, 10 Rue de Tilsitt, Paris. July 1918. Photo: Lewis Wickes Hine, photographer. American National Red Cross photograph collection. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Continuing the Library of Congress COVID-19 Health Webinar Series, the Library’s Health Services Division (HSD) and Science, Technology & Business Division (ST&B) will be hosting a virtual panel on “Covid-19 and Our Environment” on Wednesday, July 21 at 11:30 a.m. (EDT).  HSD and ST&B hope this sixth event in our COVID-19 series will promote further understanding of the current pandemic and encourage a dialogue between the audience and environmental/public health scientists. The program is open to Library and Congressional staff, Members of Congress, contractors, and the public.

In this webinar, we share three different approaches of environmental detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus: to detect outbreaks in its early stage using sewage water; to know the dispersion of the virus particles at indoor settings; and to understand how long viruses stay on the surfaces of public buildings.

Registration is required and is limited to 1,000 participants. Please use register on Zoom.

July 21st Webinar Topics and Panelists:

  • “A Method to Assess Covid-19 Transmission Risks in Indoor Settings” by Martin Z. Bazant, Ph.D., E. G. Roos (1944) Professor of Chemical Engineering, Digital Learning Officer, MIT
  • “SARS-CoV-2 Detection from the Built Environment in Hospital Surveillance” by Carolyn Nott, MD, Ph.D.,  Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa, ON, Canada; The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON Canada; and Rees Kassen, Ph.D., Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON Canada
  • “Covid-19 Outbreaks and Sewage Water Testing” by Scott Olesen, Ph.D., Scientific Director, Open Biome.
  • Q&A Panelist: John WM Bush, Ph.D. Professor of Applied Mathematics, MIT

The Library is fortunate to have access to researchers and health experts who are willing to share their knowledge and cutting edge information with us in order to promote health literacy to our staff and the American public. One of the key objectives at the Library of Congress is to connect our staff, visitors. and the general public with the knowledge of expert scientists to guide us to the right decisions in managing the pandemic.

For more information or questions about this webinar, please use our Ask-a-Librarian Service.

Individuals requiring accommodations for this event are asked to submit a request at least five business days in advance by contacting (202) 707-6362 or [email protected].

Announcement written by Tomoko Y. Steen, Ph.D. and Ashley Cuffia, MS, MLS, Science Reference Section, ST&B Division.

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