How to Keep Children Safe from COVID-19 + Dangerous Variants at School
Kids spend an average of 1200 hours every year in school. According to the EPA, the indoor air in schools can be dirtier than outdoor air and teeming with indoor air pollutants that can adversely affect a child’s health. Some of the pollutants include mold, dust, ultrafine particles, formaldehyde, viruses (including COVID-19) and bacteria. Underlying conditions, particularly those that are respiratory based can make certain kids more vulnerable to these irritants.
Is there a Way to Protect your Child from getting COVID-19 at School?
Studies have shown that the virus is most frequently transmitted when people are in close contact with others who are infected with the virus (either with or without symptoms). It is also known that most transmission occurs indoors.
Reports of outbreaks in settings with poor ventilation suggest that infectious aerosols were suspended in the air and that people inhaled the virus. These settings have included choir practices, fitness classes, restaurants and schools.
Kids being in schools require an astute and multi-pronged approach to keeping them safe to prevent COVID-19 transmissions between students and staff. Some of these measures include:
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Sanitizing stations at entry points and other key areas
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Social distancing of at least 2 metres (6 feet) between students and staff
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Mandatory masks for everyone
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Proper indoor air filtration to decrease the concentration of aerosols that may be suspended in the air
CLEANING THE AIR IS KEY
1) Source control: Controlling the source of the infection is important. It can be done by wearing masks, maintaining social distance, and staying home when ill.
2)Improved Ventilation: Inflow and out flow of air is essential. Keeping the windows open and holding classes outdoors can be helpful in keeping the aerosols (small respiratory droplets) in control. But this again is apt during warmer temperatures and not suitable during winters.
3) Air Filtration: While ventilation can only keep the aerosols moving with air around the building and does not capture it. The HEPA filter can trap the virus on the surface of the filter and prevent it from escaping back into the airstream.
Can an Air Purifier in a School Reduce COVID-19 transmissions?
It is important to know how COVID-19 is spread to understand the role of air purifiers in reduction of COVID-19 transmissions. The primary means of transmissions are:
Short-distance droplet transmission: Small particles are expelled from infected individuals while exhaling or talking. These respiratory droplets range in size from 0.125 to 5 microns and can remain airborne indefinitely.
When these smaller particles pass through an air purifier with a High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA), they stick onto the surface of the HEPA and are trapped, effectively being removed from the air in the room. HEPA filters can remove particles as small as 0.1 micron which is well within the contsructs of being able to handle the SARS CoV-2 virus particles. The UV germicidal lamp is an added level of protection that irradiates the surface of the HEPA and destroys the DNA of these trapped pathogens.
Of course, the virus particles must physically travel to where the air purifier is located and then be drawn into the air purifier in order to be removed from the air. An air purifier must be capable of drawing in enough air consistently in order to reduce the amount of virus particles in the air. The faster that an air purifier can accomplish this, the better chance that your air will be virus-free. To find out how fast an air purifier cleans the air is by checking the CADR rating. The CADR is the volume of clean air (in cubic feet per minute) that an air purifier produces. It is recommended to have a CADR rating of at least 240 to see any real results. The CADR rating of the Airpura UV600 is 350 which is well equipped to handle virus removal.
Long distance droplet transmission: Larger particles can also be expelled from infected individuals when they cough or sneeze, however these heavier particles fall to the ground, so an air purifier would have limited usefulness in this case.
The New Danger: COVID-19 Variants
The B.117 variant which was first identified in the UK has now become the dominant strain in the USA. Variants are now spreading quickly among schoolchildren. This is a more evolved and contagious form of the virus that will spread to teachers and family members. Children that get infected with Covid-19, are also more susceptible to developing a rare condition called Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, or MIS-C. This mysterious inflammatory syndrome has appeared in thousands of pediatric Covid-19 cases. The symptoms are fever, red eyes, and digestive problems but can lead to heart dysfunction and even death.
Independent study that Demonstrates the Proven Performance of Airpura Air Purifiers Against SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19)
An independent study conducted by researchers at Rutgers University has concluded that the Airpura air purifiers effectively removes viral-sized particles such as SARS-CoV-2 from the air.
Even the circumferential air outflow design of the Airpura air purifiers make them less likely than air purifiers with vertical exhausts to disperse droplets from coughing or sneezing throughout the air. This unique air outflow process of our air purifiers reduces the potential of one infected person causing an infection cluster
Read studies here: https://www.airpura.com/pages/research-and-studies
Schools that did not install air purifiers in their classrooms have 3 to 4 times more SARS-CoV-2 cases:
https://beta.ctvnews.ca/local/montreal/2021/4/23/1_5400739.html
Can an Air Purifier Spread around Virus particles?
This is a complete myth that cannot be corroborated with any study. If you delve into the constructs of any "study" that claims this, you will be that the tests were done on air purifiers without the filters in them. They did not evaluate the mechanism inside the purifier that can trap and kill particles. To not consider any filtration or virion inactivation within the air purifier is talking about a fan and NOT an air purifier. This has the same validity as saying that “cars are only good for sitting in”, not taking into account the motor, the suspension, the wheels and motor.
The best air purifier against SARS-CoV-2 transmission in schools is:
UV600: 40 square feet of HEPA 99.97% @0.3 microns, 18 lbs of Carbon, Prefilter and UV lamp for added protection against viruses
Other good option:
I600: 100 square feet of HEPA, 99.97% @0.3 microns, prefilter
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE OF AIRPURA'S PROVEN PERFORMANCE AGAINST SARS-CoV-2
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS THAT HAVE TRUSTED US WITH THEIR AIR FILTRATION
Airpura is pleased to have been deployed in hundreds of schools around the world, helping them to safely reopen. Here are just some of the institutions that have trusted Airpura with their air filtration needs:
Harvard Medical School, MA, USA
Zumwalt School District, MO, USA
University of Maine, VT, USA
Jingbao Bilingual Montessori School, ON, Canada
Frontier Academy Secondary School, CO, USA
Potter Valley Community Unified School District, CA, USA
Teton County School District, WY, USA
Commonwealth School, MA, USA
Forsyth County Public School, NC, USA
Laconia School District, NH, USA
Our Lady of Perpetual Health, CA, USA
Paul Penna Jewish Day School, ON, Canada
The Foote School, CT, USA
