Listen: Many Schools Are Buying High-Tech Air Purifiers. What Should Parents Know?

This is a collaboration between KHN and “Science Friday.” Listen to the conversation between KHN senior correspondent Christina Jewett and Science Friday’s host and executive producer, Ira Flatow.

As students return to school, parents are getting a lot of mail about what schools are doing to better protect kids in the classroom — including details on mask policies and how kids will sit at lunch. One item on many administrators’ lists of protective measures is improving ventilation in the classroom.

Many studies have shown that better ventilation and air circulation can greatly reduce covid-19 transmission. But rather than stocking up on HEPA filters, some school districts are turning to high-tech air purification strategies, including the use of untested electronic methods and airborne chemicals.

KHN has written extensively about school air filtration. Senior correspondent Christina Jewett joins Ira Flatow to explain why some air-quality experts are less than convinced by the marketing claims made by many electronic air purifier companies.

Don’t miss the simple snail-mail hack Jewett shares to gauge whether the device your school is using might be of concern.

Government Oversight of Covid Air Cleaners Leaves Gaping Holes

Thousands of schools have spent millions of federal covid relief dollars snapping up air cleaning technology that claims to inactivate covid-19. But the devices fall into a regulatory gap.

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