A National Opportunity To Address The School Closure Crisis

(NAPSI)—The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting nationwide K-12 school closures have created a social and economic impact that has paralyzed many communities. The lack of a proven technological solutions to help counter the impact of COVID in schools has compounded the crisis—but that can be fixed. 

Recently, two important developments have created an opportunity for a new national strategy to address the economic and health challenges facing schools, while equipping every classroom with healthy air filtration technology. 

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), recently signed into law, includes $54.3 billion to help K-12 public schools address the COVID-19 impact, with the goal of improving health and safety measures within these schools. Stand-alone air purification units for every classroom are the most efficient, scalable and cost-effective solution to reopen K-12 public schools safely, would require less than five percent of this relief funding, and can be deployed rapidly.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognizes that COVID-19 is transmitted via airborne particles, meaning filtration is critical. “Minimizing airborne viral load in the indoor school environment can help maintain and support the safe reopening of schools, benefiting not just the students and staff but, even more, their families and communities,” said Paul Scialla, founder and CEO of Delos and founder of the International WELL Building Institute. 

Based on many years of research, including ultra-fine particle filtration of indoor air and collaborations with organizations such as the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic, Delos has become the world leader in healthy buildings. Delos (www.delos.com) has deployed over 100,000 air filtration units into some of the country’s largest public school systems, including New York City, Chicago, Miami-Dade and Baltimore. As many schools’ HVAC systems are not designed to filter air particles as small as SARS-CoV-2, these portable units provide a scalable and cost-effective solution to help create safer environments across the nations’ six million K-12 public school classrooms—without requiring HVAC upgrades.

“When schools are closed, children lose access to critical support, food and safety, with the most vulnerable children paying the heaviest price. Committing to these upgrades for schools will cost a small fraction of what is allocated, and the positive impact will be transformational and permanent,” concluded Scialla. “We are here and ready to help school districts looking to make change in their communities with the funding they receive from CAA.”

On the Net:North American Precis Syndicate, Inc.(NAPSI)