One feature to look for is NDIR (non dispersive infrared) technology which is one of the more accurate ways of measuring CO2.
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CO2 monitoring update - travel edition:
<500 ~ outdoors, <1000 good, 1000-2000 stale, >2000 bad.
TLDR:
- Canada still requires masks for air travel.
- Airport readings good at 750-900ppm.
- Airplane 1100-1500, but HEPA filtration helps further.
- Opening windows in an Uber lowered CO2 from 2000+ to 620
Details:
EWR airport checkin counter, uncrowded: ~750
Security screening area, uncrowded: ~750 Saw a lot of standalone fans which don’t really clean the air, they just spread it around.
Gate area, 150’ diameter, 12’ ceiling, crowded: 815-900. Pretty good for how many people there were. The most crowded I’ve ever seen terminal areas at EWR. They had extra outside air being pumped in which probably helped:
Air Canada ERJ-175 airplane, 76 seats, 100% full.
Beginning boarding: 1100
End boarding: 1500
Inflight readings varied between 1100-1500, better towards the end.
Interestingly, the reading didn’t improve if I held the CO2 monitor close to the air conditioning vents. I assume that’s because airplanes use HEPA filtration, which cleans recirculated air and removes COVID particles, but not CO2.
The airplane seat config is 2-2, which meant one of our party of 3 had to sit next to a non-household member. For the return leg we might upgrade one of our party to business which has a 2-1 config - if they can get a solo seat.- to avoid this.
Canada still requires masks on airplanes and airports, but Air Canada and United approached it differently on USA-Canada flights. On United, very few were masked, and the flight crew announced that you had to put on a mask only when getting off the plane in Canada. On Air Canada, masks were required throughout the flight, and ~100% of pax wore them. That information may help you choose your airline depending on your masking preferences. No COVID tests are required to enter by air, unlike last summer when Canada required 2 and the US 1.
Montreal airport baggage area, uncrowded: ~550
Uber, Toyota Rav4, windows shut, 3pax + driver:
Entering: 2000+. Most likely they had the AC on recirc based on @amvanhoose_701479 and my experiments.
I asked driver to please open windows and it rapidly fell to ~620
Uber, Toyota Rav4, windows shut, 2pax+ driver:
Entering: 600. Possibly they had the AC on fresh.
After opening windows: ~450.
Relative’s house, 2 people in room, some windows open: 500-525. I took my N95 off even though it was not quite outdoor quality air, b/c the emotional benefit outweighed the COVID risk IMO.
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Those 2020s…always trying to one-up themselves. 
Apparently things being a “dumpster fire” are no longer adequate. We have now moved on to entire garbage trucks being on fire.
At the gas station across the street from my neighborhood when I went out this morning…
The gas station was re-opened when I returned an hour later, but the garbage truck is toast.
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Well that certainly accelerated.
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Bwahahaha
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Monkeypox case count update.
Over the last week, US cases have increased from 5,189 to 7,510.
Global cases have increased from 22,485 to 28,220.
Access to testing continues to be an issue, so hard to say what % of cases they are catching and to what extent the testing criteria are potentially driving some of the data.
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My concern is the kids are headed back to college campuses in a few weeks. College campuses could be a signifiant test for how/if monkeypox will result in substantial spread throughout the population.
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It’s already reported in a childcare center w/ a worker. K-12 public ed will be a concern too
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Thinking about the way the populations interact and what is currently known about transmission, my guess is this is the order of transmission risk:
Colleges (dating)
Day cares (sharing of toys/blankets, sitting on carpets previously sat on by others, etc)
K-12 schools (possibly least risk in middle grades due to less of the above two types of behaviors)
However, adding in the risk of severe disease, I think my biggest concern is day care outbreaks.
https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/faq.html
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FWIW, and rather scarily, I guess the new CDC “community levels” have become more meaningful in comparing different areas of the country than the old “transmission levels” in terms of relative risk. 
Now I guess the question is if things will get bad enough this winter for them to add a red level to the newer color coding scheme.
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Then add to that the fact that’s on a portion of actual cases bc I know too many people who tested at home and never let anyone know to be included in statistics.
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Not sure I’ll ever catch up on all my podcasts, but I’ve made it through all but the 2 most recent of the weekly Baylor College of Medicine updates and there were a few bits I thought worth sharing.
Week 121:
Updated phylogenetic tree showing why they are just calling this all Omicron. Consensus seems to be that BA.4/5 are more closely related to BA.2 than BA.1 but I don’t think it’s clear yet whether BA.4/5 are descendants from BA.2. Someone else mentioned they could be some kind of recombinants, which would explain why it’s murky.
On monkeypox:
Week 122 was Q&A format, and he mainly focused on questions from physicians:
^ So some data on Delta vs Omicron, but from the timing, these probably wouldn’t have included BA.4/5.
Then he talked about potential for moving on from the first generation Covid vaccines we currently have.
First he talked about the potential for updated vaccines that would target existing variants beyond the original ancestral one (bi-valent and poly-valent vaccines).
And then he talked about two different approaches to get a more universal type vaccine:
Further developments on using wastewater data:
So for my age group, Covid was the leading cause of death for Jan-Oct 2021. Brilliant.
That pregnant women should get a booster is really clear, so now they’re looking at the impact of the timing of that booster:
“If you are eligible get it.” (Basically, as we’ve heard before, Paxlovid continues to prevent severe illness in the eligible groups. Rebound doesn’t change that.)
No. We have not damaged our immune systems. We’re just back to being exposed to infections that we haven’t been.
There is more protection in the population, but immunity wanes over time and the virus continues to mutate, so there will continue to be severe cases.
To some degree it already has with BA.5, so yes.
After two negative antigen tests, she can be maskless.
“I don’t blame you for being nervous. What can you do? It’s a problem. You’re doing the best you can. Have everybody mask. And if you do get it, take Paxlovid.”
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And now we add polio back into the mix.
That vaccine isn’t even a shot! It’s a dang sugar cube!!
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No it actually hasn’t been a sugar cube for years. The sugar cube was live vaccine and there were some issues with it causing polio outbreaks via shedding.
The vaccine hasn’t been a live vaccine since the late 1980’s. (Checked, live polio vaccine ended completely in 2000. Sugar cube vaccine ended before that.)
Still, everyone should get the vaccine and take this seriously.
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Interesting. I was born in 71 and thought I remembered getting the sugar cube.
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You might have I just edited my post. Upon looking it up, the Sabin vaccine wasn’t completely eliminated until 2000, but it definetly diminished in popularity between the 1970’s until then.
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