Michael Osterholm in the latest weekly University of Minnesota COVID-19 podcast warns that schools may not be following proper procedures to keep children and staff safe from infection.
Osterholm says guidelines for three-foot spacing and using plexiglass partitions in schools are just not effective and points out the airborne virus is going to spread under those conditions, advocating instead at least six foot spacing, better room ventilation and air filtering, and better quality masks.
He summarized that in order to protect school environments here are the most important schemes to implement in order of importance to prevent COVID spread:
First in importance is vaccination, then environmental controls (swapping air 5-6 times per hour in classrooms and using HEPA filtration), then create more physical spacing at least 6 feet apart, then frequent COVID testing, and finally quality masking with N95 or KN95 masks as cloth masks are much less effective.
He explains how a simple effective room filter can be assembled with a regular box fan, and add an air conditioner filter rated at MERV 13 on the front to blow the air through. (Corsi Box instructions)
Listen to 20 minutes of his weekly podcast starting at minute 47:42. Link for Podcast here.
Dr. Osterholm is the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), and an adjunct professor in the Medical School, all at the University of Minnesota. In November 2020, Dr. Osterholm was appointed to President-elect Joe Biden's 13-member Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board.
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