Carbon dioxide detectors are going to be added to all classrooms in England to help combat COVID and the Delta variant. The goal is to help identify when the classroom needs to be ventilated so that during the colder months, windows and doors can be opened to help lessen the risk of kids getting infected with COVID and the Delta variant by ensuring there is well-circulated air.
The Department of Education has 300,000 carbon dioxide monitors to distribute to schools throughout England in the upcoming weeks to be put in classrooms as part of the effort to help stop the spread of COVID. While this is just a "partial allocation" of what schools will be getting overall for the school year, according to BBC News, the hope is that this first round of carbon dioxide monitors will help identify where "more airflow" is needed in a closed classroom.
This comes as school gets back in session for the fall, when it is easier to keep the windows and doors open to get adequate ventilation into rooms for students and teachers alike. The struggle will come in the winter months where keeping windows and doors open during winter is just not feasible, according to The Telegraph.
Using the carbon dioxide monitors was suggested after places like New York, Ireland, and Scotland used them so that in places where winters do get cold, the need to have windows open during the entire school day is not necessary, per BBC News. Instead, when the monitors go off, that is the time when the windows will need to be opened and the hope is that it is not for long, given the bitter cold that can come into the rooms and be disruptive to learning.
But because England has relaxed all of its COVID safety protocols in schools such as social distancing, bubble groups, and wearing masks, according to the publication, there needs to be some precautionary action taken to keep COVID and especially the Delta variant from infecting students who are too young to be eligible to be vaccinated against the virus.
According to Ocean FM, there are to be 20 to 35 monitors given to each school in this first round of monitor distributions. And while it is seen as a good start, some, are still concerned about the "increase transmission of the Delta variant " after kids return to school, especially when classrooms lose their ability to be ventilated as winter creeps in.
Once schools receive their first allocation of carbon dioxide monitors, they will also receive "new guidance on their use," per The Telegraph should the monitors show that there is poor ventilation happening in classrooms.
Amid the carbon dioxide monitors being distributed, there is also a pilot program in the works.
Per the publication, 30 schools throughout England who have been identified as having poorly ventilated rooms have been enrolled in a program to see if air-purifiers are a good alternative to ensuring the air is as clean as possible for teachers and students to breathe while teaching and learning when school starts up again shortly.
With only a partial allocation being available to schools this fall, some teachers have voiced concern and frustration that the full amount of carbon dioxide monitors will not be in place when school is in session. The hope is that by the winter term when the windows and doors will need to remain closed that the remaining allocation will be available to keep the spread of Delta down.
Source: The Telegraph, BBC News, The Ocean