Buying an air purifier for schools

It is estimated that due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, students have lost about six months of schooling¹. Many children have fallen behind in subjects like maths, reading, and writing as a result. Although the pandemic has subsided, children in schools are still at high risk of bacterial and viral disease transmission. Additionally, children are also one of the most at-risk groups of the negative health effects of indoor air pollution. Can an air purifier for schools provide protection from the dangers of poor indoor air quality for both children and staff? Read on to learn more.

Indoor air quality (IAQ) in schools

The effect of indoor air pollution on children

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 93% of children (below the age of 15) around the world breathe air that exceeds its guidelines. In fact, the air is so polluted that it has a direct impact on a child’s growth and development, killing upwards of 600,000 children per year². This is due to multiple reasons:

• Children breathe more rapidly through shorter airways, breathing in more air (and pollutants) than adults
• Children are smaller and live closer to the ground, meaning that they are more likely to breathe in pollutants at higher concentrations
• Children’s respiratory systems (especially their lungs) and immune systems are not yet fully developed, making them vulnerable to organ damage and inflammatory diseases³

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Moreover, children are more vulnerable to contracting respiratory diseases (like asthma), respiratory infections, and allergies at school. In the UK, asthma is considered to be the ‘most common long-term medical condition in children’, impacting around 1 in 11 young people. Rates of asthma in the UK are some of the highest throughout Europe with over one million children receiving asthma treatment nationwide⁴. Poor indoor air quality in schools and other indoor environments provide asthma attack triggers for many young asthma sufferers.

Studies have also linked poor indoor air quality to decreased academic performance and impaired cognitive abilities in young students. These studies found that exposure to chemical particles in classrooms (especially PM10, PM2.5, NO2, and ozone) leads to decreased academic achievement and working memory. The presence of these indoor air pollutants has a negative impact on concentration, reasoning, and test scores^5,6.

Sources of indoor air pollution in schools

Indoor air pollutants in schools have a variety of sources that can lead to negative health effects. Some found in classrooms may include:

• Carbon dioxide (CO2)
• Fine particles, also known as ‘particulate matter’ or PM
• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) especially formaldehyde and benzene
• Toxic particles like VOCs in classrooms are typically released by the use of every day products
• These include cleaning and sanitising agents, new furniture (which can release formaldehyde for up to two years!), pesticides, paints and lacquers, and construction materials
• Allergens like pollen, dust, dust mites, and mould and its spores
• Dust in schools often accumulates in carpets, rugs, and curtains as well as soft furnishings like upholstered sofas
• Bacteria and viruses (read more below)

Although most indoor spaces are more polluted than outdoor spaces (typically 2 to 5 times), the indoor air of schools and educational institutions is often 8 to 10 times more polluted than outdoor air. Children spend 90% of their school days indoors, meaning that they experience an almost constant exposure to indoor air pollution.

Bacteria and viruses like COVID-19

Schools and classrooms are places where bacteria and viruses can proliferate with ease. This is due to the fact that children sneeze, cough, or talk within close proximity of one another, releasing aerosols into the air. During times of seasonal epidemics or pandemics like COVID-19, children also often find it difficult to respect social distancing measures put in place.

Environments that are closed with minimal ventilation and a high density of individuals lead to high transmission risk. As we have all learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 (as well as other airborne viruses) is transmitted via aerosol droplets. These droplets are released in indoor spaces like classrooms, and the rate of transmission is highest in places where there is limited air circulation and many people in close quarters. The coronavirus is spread when infected individuals exhale, talk, cough, sing, sneeze, eat, and even breathe within 1 to 2 metres (3 to 6 feet) of another person. These actions release microdroplets. The vast majority - upwards of 90% - of transmission events and viral exposure occurs in indoor spaces like classrooms⁷.

The biggest problem faced by schools is the lack of ventilation in classrooms. Indoor spaces that are properly ventilated can push polluted, stale air out and replace it with fresh air (assuming that the outdoor air is not heavily polluted). Many schools operate in older buildings with heating and cooling systems (HVACs) that are unable to sustain sufficient airflow. Unfortunately, according to a 2021 study by the University of Leeds, ‘good ventilation can help disperse the aerosols that can cause infection, but in a busy classroom, ventilation alone will not be enough’¹.

The above-mentioned University of Leeds study aimed to test the effectiveness of air purifiers, also called ‘air cleaners’ or ‘air sterilisers’, in reducing pathogen concentrations in schools. The results showed that many schools struggling to provide sufficient ventilation would require significant financial investment to improve ventilation in classrooms. Schools may not be able to ventilate properly for the following reasons:

• Classroom windows do not open or only open partially
• Schools are located in places with heavy outdoor pollution or noise
• Opening windows would pose a safety risk to the children
• Other adverse environmental conditions¹

Under these conditions, an air purifier for schools can certainly help improve indoor air quality. Even in schools that are able to obtain proper air flow, an air cleaner can actively remove indoor pollutants from the air. This provides a more extensive layer of protection for school students and staff alike.

How does an air purifier for schools work?

An air steriliser works by pulling polluted air into the device, treating the air using one or more air filtration technologies, and recirculating the purified air back into the room.

It is worth noting that not all air purifiers are created equal! Air cleaners that contain HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air)-certified filters guarantee filtration of 99.97% of air pollutants down to a size of 0.01 microns (μm). For context, respiratory aerosol particles carrying SARS-CoV-2 typically measure between 5 to 10 μm in size. However, droplet nuclei have also been reported to spread COVID-19, and these measure less than 5 μm⁸. When battling fine particle air pollutants, HEPA-certified filters are the only filters on the market that can remove contaminants of this size.

Note: some devices claim to have ‘HEPA-type’ filters. HEPA-type filters do not undergo the same level of third-party testing as HEPA-certified devices do to ensure their efficacy.

HEPA-certified filters do have their limitations. This is why high-quality products like Eoleaf’s come equipped with 8 different filtration technologies, all of which are designed to tackle different types of air pollution. HEPA-certified air purifiers cannot eliminate VOCs, for instance. To account for this, Eoleaf’s devices also contain activated carbon filters and photocatalysis technologies, each of which remove VOCs from the air. Eoleaf products offer the following air purification technologies:

• Pre-filter
• Bamboo fibre filter
• Lysozyme and silver ions
• Activated carbon filter
• Medical-grade HEPA H13 filter
• Photocatalysis
• UVC sterilisation
• Ionisation (negative ions)

To learn more about each of these technologies and their functions, refer to our article here.

The benefits of an air purifier for schools

By installing an air cleaner in your school, you can provide a host of benefits to students, teaching staff, and non-teaching staff.

Protect student health

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, headteachers were provided little guidance regarding how to implement social distancing procedures in classrooms, especially with younger students. In a largely post-pandemic present, schools and other places welcoming large numbers of people are all looking for ways to ward off bacterial or viral epidemics and pandemics in the future.

Seasonal epidemics that touch classrooms and schools as a whole can have an impact on large percentages of students and staff. The flu, measles, bouts of colds and pneumonia, stomach bugs, and even non-contagious epidemics like pollen allergies can all have an annual presence in educational establishments. Providing purified air with an air purifier for schools is a great way to reduce contagion of bacteria and viruses. These devices also reduce airborne allergens that lead to unpleasant allergy symptoms.

The following heat map provides an example of how air purifiers installed in a classroom can reduce cross-contamination between students. The red area shows an infected student, and the purple and blue areas show where particles are removed from the classroom:

Source¹¹

An air cleaner also protects students from the dangers of indoor air pollution. As mentioned above, children (alongside pregnant women, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals) are one of the most at-risk groups in suffering the negative health effects of air pollution. In children, exposure to indoor air pollution can lead to multiple types of cancer (especially lung cancer), asthma, reduced lung capacity and function, respiratory infection and allergies, and increased risk of chronic disease in adulthood9. Some studies have even found that regular exposure to air pollution has been associated with more severe COVID-19 and other viral outcomes10. Furthermore, removing indoor air pollutants can improve academic performance and attention span amongst students.

Air purifiers designed for vehicles (like Eoleaf’s Pure CAR) are also ideal to protect students and drivers of school transportation vehicles.

Protect teachers and non-teaching staff

Equipping your classrooms with an air steriliser is the perfect way to provide better working conditions for your teaching and non-teaching staff. Staff working in a school experience the same level of risk of disease spread, cross-contamination, and negative health effects caused by indoor air pollutions as students do. In addition to the aforementioned health disorders, poor air quality in schools can cause headaches, fatigue, dizziness, and difficulties concentrating in adults. An air purifier for schools helps to reassure all members of staff who are in direct contact with students. The presence of an air cleaner also improves productivity, cognitive function, and reduces absenteeism amongst teachers.

Raise your school’s profile

Improving indoor air quality in your school can highlight your establishment in the eyes of elected officials and trade unions. This voluntary action also reassures parents by reducing the likelihood of disease outbreaks that could impact entire families.

Which factors should you consider when choosing an air purifier for schools?