The NY metropolis public schools that rely solely on open house windows and moveable air purifiers have seen 23% extra COVID-19 circumstances per college students and a 29% enhance in staff case costs when As in contrast with buildings with stronger air flow, Similar to HVAC methods, Based mostly on A mannequin new WNYC/Gothamist investigation.
The findings enhance new considerations Regarding the adequacy of dozens of public schools as winter approaches and schools wrestle to Deal with growing older buildings amid the pandemic. The information additionally Means that school officers purchased inenough air purifiers and are over Counting on them To assist fight the airborne virus — A drawback enhanced in a earlier WNYC/Gothamist investigation.
Starting in summer time 2020, The metropolis purchased two air purifiers For every classroom from a Manhattan-based startup named Delos Dwelling and its upstate companion Intellipure — a selection officers strongly backed forward of The varsity yr, Regardless of The very Incontrovertible actuality that the mannequins lack HEPA filters, the enterprise benchmark for air cleansing.
In interviews with WNYC/Gothamist, unbiased engineers warned of relying too closely on the Intellipure purifiers and open house windows, which metropolis officers countered have been enough in reducing The hazard of COVID-19 unfold.
To study why Intellipure air purifiers have been chosen for lecture rooms, WNYC/Gothamist has found that NY metropolis’s Division of Education (DOE) acquired these mannequins for a low cost, Based mostly on contracts obtained by way of Freedom Of information requests.