The decision of the Bavarian State Cabinet on Tuesday that all schools should be equipped with mobile air purifiers for the new school year met with little enthusiasm in the district.
In the school and district committee of the district council, District Administrator Stefan Löwl (CSU) recently expressed a clear opinion: "They are not what one hopes for them!"
Dachau's Mayor Florian Hartmann (SPD) was also skeptical of the city council last week: there have been "umpteen studies" on the effectiveness of the devices.
The city would prefer to pursue the line of using the air purifiers, five of which were purchased, really only in the classrooms, where - due to the lack of windows - no ventilation is possible.
In addition, the schools in the city and district have already bought CO2 traffic lights for the classrooms for a lot of money.
Hartmann therefore thinks it is important that “we come to an understanding on this issue at the district level”.
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Skeptical: Dachau Mayor Florian Hartmann
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However, there should be little controversy with the district administrator. Löwl also only considers the devices to be necessary where there is no proper ventilation, as he said in the most recent meeting of the school and district committee. He gave examples of physics halls in which there were only skylights. The district procured them - at the request of the schools. There are currently around 40 units in use there, although some schools do not even need the devices for technical reasons. "In classrooms where you can ventilate normally, ventilation is more effective, according to the current state of science," added the district administrator.
His parents would write to him all the time and ask him to buy equipment, said Löwl.
"Then I answer them: Buy sweaters because they will still be cold!" He read a statement from the Robert Koch Institute on this.
Their tenor: Air purification devices cannot effectively reduce the risk of transmission.
"If we put these things in," said the district administrator, "it's nice, but we'll still have a mask, we'll still have distance lessons, we'll still have the windows open."
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Critical: District Administrator Stefan Löwl.
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Löwl even went one step further when it came to concerns about the devices: “If we buy them with the aim of preventing distance training from taking place, then that is the wrong investment. If we buy them that you think you don't have to open the windows, it's a wrong investment. ”There is a new report from Hessen, which states that the effect of the devices can be roughly equated with three-minute shock ventilation every 30 minutes.
District councilor Carsten Schleh (Greens) countered Löwl's report from Hesse with a research study by the University of Münster.
The scholars from North Rhine-Westphalia compared classrooms with two or three air purifiers with those in which only the windows could be opened.
"And they found that the viral load in the air we breathe is massively lower," says Schleh.
Air purification devices are immensely expensive, he admitted, “but that is exactly what prevents the alternating lessons from coming.
We should consider whether this enormous sum is worth it to us that we can prevent a high incidence in the corresponding age group ”.
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Convinced: District Councilor Carsten Schlehe.
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The district administrator again explained the point of costs. An air purifier would cost 4500 to 5000 euros, while smaller devices still cost 3500 euros, according to Löwl, "for this we need a Europe-wide tender and these things have to be built". According to Löwl, 450 classrooms would have to be equipped for the district, as well as elementary and middle schools and daycare centers. And: if the district advertises the procurement normally, “we will never make it by October”.
Fürstenfeldbruck's District Administrator Thomas Karmasin played in the same direction at the meeting of the Bavarian District Association on Tuesday in Bergkirchen: "Fans for all classrooms will never be available until mid-September". Until all of this has been approved by the respective district committees and then organized and procured, says Karmasin, the winter will be over and it will be more like the middle of next year. Incidentally, this skepticism was even shared by top civil servant Andrea Degl from the Bavarian Ministry of Construction.
Stinks angry is Hebertshausen's mayor Richard Reischl (CSU). "That can no longer be sold as good politics, it is an oath of disclosure," he complains. On Tuesday evening he was so angry about the decision of the Bavarian state government that “I wanted to leave the CSU”. Reischl did not take this step after all, "even if I am still thinking about it". He wonders "how long we can put up with this policy". Last autumn, the air purifiers were only recommended for rooms that cannot be ventilated through windows, says Reischl. "Now these fans are suddenly an advantage everywhere." The efficiency is low, the fans are barely five percent. "The Free State is spending" 200 million euros on things that are of no use ". It's all aboutto appease the parents. Reischl has already determined that 97 fans would be needed in Hebertshausen, and the community would have to spend 300,000 euros on them. “I don't even get 50 percent back.” Because in addition to classrooms and daycare rooms, in the interests of equal treatment, the equipment would also have to be installed in fire brigade or village community centers. Everywhere where people gather. Then there is the "exorbitant power consumption" and the maintenance of the devices. Reischl does not want to buy fans in Hebertshausen. Instead, they try to "convince the parents with facts".“Because in addition to classrooms and daycare rooms, the equipment would also have to be installed in fire brigade or village community centers in order to ensure equal treatment. Everywhere where people gather. Then there is the "exorbitant power consumption" and the maintenance of the devices. Reischl does not want to buy fans in Hebertshausen. Instead, they try to "convince the parents with facts".“Because in addition to classrooms and daycare rooms, the equipment would also have to be installed in fire brigade or village community centers in order to ensure equal treatment. Everywhere where people gather. Then there is the "exorbitant power consumption" and the maintenance of the devices. Reischl does not want to buy fans in Hebertshausen. Instead, they try to "convince the parents with facts".
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Sauer: Mayor Richard Reischl.
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At the beginning of the week there was a service meeting with representatives of the 17 district municipalities and the district regarding air purification devices.
Löwl sums up the result of the meeting as follows: “We will not procure these devices as long as we do not know from the Free State which devices they are, and as long as the State Office for Health and Food Safety or the Robert Koch Institute notify us that these devices are actually enable closed windows and full classes. ”
ps / rds / zim / zip
