Six recommendations for how school administrators and decisionmakers could use flexible funds available under the American Rescue Plan to improve healthy air in schools
May 26, 2021- The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health released a new report calling on kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) school administrators to urgently invest in ways to provide healthy air in schools to increase safety during the COVID-19 pandemic and potential future respiratory disease outbreaks, as well as to improve student learning.
The new report, School Ventilation: A Vital Tool to Reduce COVID-19 Spread, reviews how improvements in building ventilation can reduce the risks of disease transmission. The report also summarizes current ventilation guidelines for K-12 schools and shares the results of an analysis finding that ventilation improvements are a cost-effective public health measure compared to enhanced (“deep”) cleaning that focuses on surfaces.
“Many K-12 schools in the United States do not have good ventilation, which has negative health impacts on health and learning,” wrote the authors. “Improving ventilation systems may give children and school staff healthier indoor air quality now and for decades in the future. This would provide a healthier environment for non-pandemic times and potentially reduce the risks of future infectious disease outbreaks.”
The report :
You can access the new report here.