New York ¨C America¡¯s ambivalence about wearing masks has played a part in its COVID-19 woes. But there¡¯s another factor beginning to receive a closer look as the virus tears through some of the hottest parts of the United States: Our zealous ¡ª and rather unusual ¡ª insistence on living and working in spaces that are largely sealed off from the outdoors.
It wasn¡¯t always so. In the 19th century, a growing number of people lived and worked in cramped, airless quarters in the nation¡¯s growing cities. As disease ran rampant, the solution was simple: better ventilation. A growing number of medical professionals prescribed ¡°natural disinfectants¡± ¡ª fresh air and sunshine ¡ª to counter the threat of disease.
In his 1882 book ¡°How We Ought to Live,¡± a doctor named Joseph Edwards argued for outsized windows and doors in homes, claiming that ¡°the larger you make your openings, the nearer will your house approach a tent.¡± A tent? He explained: ¡°I am sure we would all enjoy better health, if houses were unknown, and we lived in tents or in the open air, as animal life in a state of nature is accustomed to do.¡±
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