The district council of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district votes for a research project in their educational institutions.
Sensor devices in classrooms should clarify the question of whether air filters are useful in schools.
District
- Is it worth equipping classrooms with mobile air purification devices? This question is currently hotly debated by science, politics and municipalities after the Free State has announced that it will assume 50 percent of the costs. The district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen would now like to have its own schools checked whether the hoped-for reduction in aerosol using air purifiers can occur and thus the risk of corona infection can be minimized. A majority of the district council has spoken out in favor of participating in the corresponding research project "Safe Classroom" at the University of Applied Science in Munich.
Sensor devices are now being installed in three classrooms per school.
With the measurements, scientists want to check the effect and success in practice in various variants.
One of the machines costs around 1,000 euros, and the district is taking a total of 20,000 euros into its own hands for the research project.
If the air purifiers are effective, the authority would have to purchase 198 air filter devices for the district's own schools - with a subsidy of 50 percent.
Air filters in the classrooms: pros and cons are pretty even
The pros and cons are pretty balanced, as press spokesman Stephan Scharf quotes from the finance department's statement. This is supported by the fact that the devices offer additional protection for children and young people "who have no way of protecting themselves from the pandemic with a vaccination". If the devices prove to be effective, they reduce the aerosol concentration and thus the virus load in the room air - which in turn means that the risk of infection by the corona virus decreases. This prevents the authorities from closing the school again in the fall.
However, the data on the effectiveness of the systems is still “very thin and not yet proven. Science does not agree on this, ”says Scharf. The Federal Environment Agency and the Commission for Interior Hygiene prioritize window ventilation. "The use of mobile air purifiers could also be useful," says the district office spokesman. “But only if there is insufficient ventilation.” And that is the case with most of the district's own schools: In Werdenfels-Gymnasium there are a total of 46 rooms without a ventilation system. The situation is different at the Murnau secondary school: all 34 classrooms without exception have provision for fresh air. At the Staffelsee-Gymnasium this is missing in only 8 of a total of 65 rooms.
All in all, around 180 classrooms in the eight schools in the district can only be ventilated through the windows. In addition, there are eleven rooms that “would probably need a second ventilation device” due to their size. But there are other concerns: The mobile air purifiers only circulate the room air and do not replace the necessary supply of outside air. “Air purifiers do not produce fresh oxygen.” This means that children cannot avoid freezing in winter when the windows are opened, despite the air purifier. “Teachers may even be told not to ventilate adequately.” Air purifiers are also noisy and could disrupt lessons. The research project is not new in the district. The Uffing / Seehausen primary school is already participating in the “Safe Classroom” project. Study director Dr.Christian Schwarzbauer therefore offered the district and its schools to collaborate as part of the study.