Center Green School and ASHRAE recently published “Managing Air Quality During the Pandemic: How K-12 Schools Addressed Air Quality in the Second Year of COVID-19“

What's happening:

The Center for Green School built this report on "Preparation in the Pandemic: How Schools Implemented Air Quality Measures to Protect Occupants from COVID-19" published in April 2021. Their updates reflected how schools responded to the pandemic and how the implementations have evolved in the following months.

Why it matters:

This survey helps to assess the implementation of a range of strategies. Major strategies are the following:

Ventilation
Filtration
Disinfection
Air quality monitoring

By the number:

The statistic is based on the responses from 94 respondents distributed in 88 school districts. The sample represented 4,069 public schools and 2,651,972 K-12 students and was primarily reflective of urban and suburban communities,

What's the challenge:

There are two major concerns from the range of strategies above. Many schools' HVAC systems were not designed to implement higher-grade filtration. On the other hand, increasing outdoor airflow was easier to implement, yet it increased energy demand and was not financially practical.

The bigger picture:

This survey aims to identify the opportunities to help those schools improve indoor air quality strategically. By understanding why strategies have difficulties getting accomplished, such as capital or operational expenses, the decision-makers can evaluate each method's effectiveness and improve techniques in the future.

Final takeaway:

According to the U.S. Accountability Office's 2020 K-12 education report (1), over a third of nationwide public schools need HVAC updates and replacement.

While many studies show wearing masks can effectively decrease the risk of spreading respiratory disease. The role of indoor air quality remains significant consideration due to its ability to control the situation when individual behavior is uncontrollable or unpredictable.

Notes and references:

According to GOA’s report, K-12 Education: School Districts Frequently Identified Multiple Building Systems Needing Updates or Replacement; it states, "for example, an estimated 41 percent of districts need to update or replace heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in at least half of their schools, representing about 36,000 schools nationwide that need HVAC updates.

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