U.S. Schools Worried About Inadequate Ventilation Systems, Mull Outdoor Classes Amid Pandemic [View all]

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'Schools mull outdoor classes amid virus, ventilation worries.' By Terry Spencer, AP News, Aug. 13, 2020. - Ed.:



- Lisa Fitzgerald O'Connor poses for photographs at M.S. 324, Aug. 6, 2020, in New York. It has been 7 years since the central air conditioning system worked at the NYC middle school where O’Connor teaches. As a new school year approaches amid the coronavirus pandemic, she & her colleagues are threatening not to return unless it's repaired. -

It has been 7 years since the central air conditioning system worked at the New York City middle school where Lisa Fitzgerald O’Connor teaches. As a new school year approaches amid the coronavirus pandemic, she & her colleagues are threatening not to return unless it’s repaired. Her classroom has a window air conditioning unit, but she fears the stagnant air will increase the chances that an infected student could spread the virus. “Window units just aren’t going to cut it. We don’t want to stay cool, we just want the air to flow properly,” said O’Connor, a science teacher who works at a school in Manhattan. "We are really super stressed out about it.”

Schools around the U.S. are facing similar problems as they plan or contemplate reopening this fall, dealing with aging air conditioning, heating & circulation systems that don’t work well or at all because maintenance & replacement were deferred due to tight budgets. Concerns about school infrastructure are adding momentum to plans in some districts, even in colder climates, to take classes outdoors for the sake of student & teacher health. Nationwide, an estimated 41% of school districts need to update or replace their heating, ventilation & cooling systems in at least half their schools, based on a federal report from June. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., chairman of the House Education committee, called on the federal government to help districts improve their systems, saying the CDC calling ventilation an important part of coronavirus spread at schools. “Ventilation is key and you don’t fix that for free,″ Scott said.

There is no evidence that the disease can spread through ventilation systems from one classroom to the next, [?] according to Dr. Edward Nardell, a Harvard Medical School professor who specializes in airborne diseases. The danger, Nardell said, is from ineffective systems that don’t remove floating viruses & let them linger in classrooms after they are expelled in an infected person’s breath, sneeze or cough. “Most schools are designed for comfort, not for infection control. So there is a danger that if you put 20 kids in a room, that if one of them has asymptomatic COVID & is infectious, you now have 19 more kids who are exposed,” he said. *Healthy children almost always recover from COVID, if they become ill at all, but they can pass the disease to teachers, parents & other adults (*SEE Below). Nardell believes schools should consider installing ultraviolet lights along classroom ceilings, a technology some used in the 1950s & earlier to combat measles, tuberculosis & other airborne diseases & that is still used in hospitals & homeless shelters. Viruses & bacteria are destroyed using a spectrum of UV light that is safe for humans.

Teaching classes outdoors may be one solution to air circulation problems as was done during tuberculosis & influenza outbreaks in the early 1900s, even in cold weather. The coronavirus spreads less efficiently outdoors & students could more easily sit 6 feet apart. Outdoor teaching advocates claim that having classes outdoors has other benefits & children actually are less distracted & feel better emotionally. Several NE schools have bought large event tents & plan to use them to teach outside through November [some tents are equipped with propane heaters]. A Conn. superintendent said some of her district’s 13 schools were built between 80 and 100 years ago & aren’t capable of handling modern air systems. There are also crowding issues- one has classrooms built for 15 students but that typically have 25, making social distancing impossible. A superintendent in northern Pa. said his district’s 5 schools’ air systems have no exit vents to circulate fresh air in & the virus out. He estimates it would cost at least $600,000 per school to replace the systems. When his schools reopen Aug. 31, students will be asked to wear masks, but Pa. law exempts children whose parents claim they have a physical or mental condition...

https://apnews.com/9282728e7dac47d8809264e1fb9c0598

*Note: 'Children with no COVID-19 symptoms may be more contagious than sick adults, study finds,' Aug. 22, 2020.
https://www.localmemphis.com/mobile/article/news/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-children-viral-load-contagious/507-bc757238-3022-47f8-bd65-c17b1087b019

A new U.S. study has found children infected with the new coronavirus -- even those with mild or no symptoms -- can have a significantly higher level of the virus in their airways than adult COVID-19 patients in intensive care. That high viral load can increase the risk of transmitting the virus to others, the authors say. --

(Several new reports posted here confirm that children carry large amounts of coronavirus in their nasal and throat areas and can transmit the virus much more than previously thought. And children do get sick from the illness).