Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine is planning to introduce legislation to mandate improved indoor air quality standards to preempt future disease outbreaks and limit successive waves of COVID-19.
Levine, who previously served on the City Council and made a name for himself during the pandemic as chair of the Council’s health committee, is working with Council Member Keith Powers, a fellow Manhattan Democrat, and has requested the Council’s legislative division to draft the bill (borough presidents can introduce and request legislation but they cannot vote on them).
Levine first announced his proposal at a recent CityLaw breakfast hosted by New York Law School. “[We] are beginning a major push that I think will be critical to protecting us long-term from this virus, from future waves, and similar transmissible diseases, which is we want to have high standards on air quality in buildings in New York City, something that we simply don’t have now, that we’ve never really adequately addressed,” he said. “We’re preparing legislation that we hope will make this analogous to fire safety provisions but of course focused on things like air flow and filtration in public buildings, commercial buildings, even residential buildings.”
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