EPA Testing Shows the Power of D-I-Y Air Filters to Trap Viruses

The results are in: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency research testing of do-it-yourself ‘Corsi-Rosenthal Box’ indoor air filters shows they are 99% effective in removing airborne virus. The 'Owl Force One' device tested by the EPA was built by UConn Indoor Air Quality Initiative researchers with Middletown, Connecticut public school children.

There is a low-cost way for you to protect yourself and reduce your risk of respiratory diseases such as flu, RSV, and COVID-19. Build yourself a Corsi-Rosenthal box (CR box) in 30 minutes with just $60 worth of common hardware store supplies.

In July, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientists began several weeks of advanced bioaerosol chamber testing to assess the efficacy and power of this air filter against infectious aerosols, like the virus that causes COVID-19. The results are in, and they are good.

The U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development’s 3,000 cubic ft. bioaerosol chamber testing results show that the CR box removes 97% of infectious aerosols in just 30 minutes, and 99.4% within 60 minutes. Importantly, the device successfully captures a surrogate virus for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

A team of EPA scientists led by Katherine Ratliff conducted the bioaerosol chamber testing of the CR box after testing more expensive air cleaning technologies throughout the pandemic.

“The study results are extremely exciting,” says EPA’s Ratliff. “These CR boxes really work. The Corsi-Rosenthal box works against infectious aerosols in the air. The results are really powerful. Three different sets of biochamber testing data show that these air filters reduce the amount of infectious virus in the air and capture both smaller and larger sized particles. CR boxes are more effective at reducing concentrations of infectious aerosols in indoor air than some of the more expensive technologies that we tested.”

“These scientific results are huge!” says Marina Creed, APRN, director of the UConn Indoor Air Quality Initiative. “These inexpensive, do-it-yourself air filters are for everyone. If you put this in your home, it will remove infectious germs that cause disease from the air. Schools, students, and teachers if you run one of these inside your classrooms it can reduce your exposure to viruses and bacteria, reducing the risk of disease transmission, meaning you are less likely to get sick.”..

EPA Testing Shows the Power of D-I-Y Air Filters to Trap Viruses - UConn Today

Denver Public Schools spending $1.5 million to track air quality in classrooms with new monitors [@mocoboe Refuses to Do This]

Devices will allow school district to better respond to COVID-19 pandemic, pollution issues

Denver Public Schools is taking steps to track the air quality in its classrooms by adding monitors in all of the district’s schools.

Air quality has become a major focus during the pandemic as researchers concluded ventilation can help slow the transmission of COVID-19, which is airborne. It’s also increasingly important as wildfire smoke often casts a haze over the city during the summer and other pollutants cause health issues, such as asthma, in children. 

“We should have been doing this a long time ago,” said Mark Hernandez, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, adding, “You don’t want to be at increased risk for allergens or wildfire smoke.”

DPS has been planning to improve air quality in its buildings for “a while,” but the district’s budget has prevented it from buying monitors until now, spokesman Javier Ibarra said.

“COVID helped prompt all of this,” he said. “(But) it’s a long-term goal.”

DPS is spending $1.5 million on the monitors and expects to finish installing them by Sept. 1. The district is using federal COVID-19 stimulus money, known as ESSER funds, to pay for the monitors, which are part of a broader $25 million effort to improve air quality in the city’s schools, Ibarra said...

...DPS isn’t the only district working to improve air quality in its classrooms during the pandemic. Senseware’s monitors are in roughly 500 school buildings across the U.S., including in the Boulder Valley School District and classrooms in Washington, D.C...

https://www.denverpost.com/2022/07/22/denver-public-schools-air-quality-monitors/?utm_email=B46125A74488E4195574B4087B&g2i_eui=%2fyS%2fuHML1fch1nhbbVB3P8Q%2fyUQ2Yqqtw81y%2fefjQ18%3d&g2i_source=newsletter&active=no&lctg=B46125A74488E4195574B4087B&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fwww.denverpost.com%2f2022%2f07%2f22%2fdenver-public-schools-air-quality-monitors%2f&utm_campaign=denver-evening-post&utm_content=automated