Have you ever paid attention to the air quality in the classrooms where your kids spend more than ¼day every day?
Did you kids ever tell you that they had some symptoms like nasal stuffiness and dryness, itchy skin, and sore throat when they were in schools?
It could be caused by poor indoor air quality.
Even if most schools closed longer than usual because of COVID-19 pandemic this year, students will have to go back to school eventually. However, coronavirus continues to spread, and air is the primary mode of transmission, parents have started to worry about indoor air quality in schools.
Various studies show evidence that poor air quality affects human health(*3). There is one study that has been done in 6 cities in France and found out that poor air quality in classrooms is linked to asthma and rhinitis(*2). Another study has also found a link between childhood exposure to air pollution and disorders such as ADHD. Children are more susceptible to poor air quality because they inhale more pollutants per body weight than adults, due to higher breathing rates. Poor air quality is related to long-term and short-term health problems including cough, eye irritation, headache, allergic reactions and respiratory disease(*1). More than the physical symptoms, poor air quality also has some negative effects on students’ academic performance. Students may lose their concentration and not focus because they feel lethargy.
Sick Building Syndrome(*4) is characterised by several symptoms including red eyes, headache, dry and itchy skin, dizziness, nausea and many more. Schools are suggested to maintain the HVAC systems more frequently, to update clean filters more often and to increase ventilation rate; on top of it, they can definitely use the help of air quality detectors with multiple indexes to monitor indoor air quality.
(*1)EPA: https://www.epa.gov/iaq-schools/why-indoor-air-quality-important-schools/ (*2)BMJ: https://thorax.bmj.com/content/thoraxjnl/67/8/682.full.pdf/ (*3)AirQualityNews: https://airqualitynews.com/2020/01/16/poor-air-quality-in-schools-is-linked-to-health-implications/ (*4)PMC: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2796751/