Coronavirus: Infections cut in schools via ventilation systems, says Italy study
- Italian study found infections lower in classrooms with ventilation systems, and lower still – by more than 80 per cent – where those systems stronger
- The experiment in 10,441 classrooms was carried out between September 2021 and January this year; most schools do not have ventilation systems
An Italian study published on Tuesday suggests that efficient ventilation systems can reduce the transmission of Covid-19 in schools by more than 80 per cent.
An experiment overseen by the Hume foundation think-tank compared coronavirus contagion in 10,441 classrooms in Italy’s central Marche region.
Infections were steeply lower in the 316 classrooms that had mechanical ventilation systems, with the reduction in cases more marked according to the strength of the systems.
With applications guaranteeing a complete replacement of the air in a classroom 2.4 times in an hour, infections were reduced by 40 per cent.
They were lowered by 66.8 per cent with four air replacements per hour and by 82.5 per cent with six air replacements, the study showed.
Most of Italy’s schools lack mechanical ventilation systems. Instead, teachers are urged to keep windows open when weather conditions permit.
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If the most efficient systems were installed “we could pass from 250 cases per 100,000 students (the alert level set by the education ministry) to a rate of 50 per 100,000,” the Hume foundation and the Marche regional government said in its press release.