The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the role airflow and ventilation can play in a person’s health, leading many businesses to eye upgrades to their heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems as a way to combat viral transmission.
But new research suggests that costly HVAC system updates (which can range from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars) may not be needed to prevent the spread of Covid or other airborne diseases, even in some of the most at-risk indoor settings like nursing homes.
A recent study from Well Living Lab, a collaboration between wellness real estate and technology company Delos and the Mayo Clinic, found that high-grade portable air purifiers significantly reduced the risk of spreading airborne and surface contact-related pathogens in skilled nursing facilities. That includes a 64% reduction in the peak number of airborne pathogens and a 44% drop in surface particles in the same room as the simulated infection.
The use of portable air purifiers also reduced the peak number of airborne particles in an adjacent room by 90%. Opening a window, by contrast, was found to transport more of the small particles into a neighboring room.
The findings that air purifiers can help mitigate viral transmission are not only significant for long-term care facilities—which were among those hit hardest by the pandemic—but they “can be translated to any indoor environment,” including similarly sized offices, classrooms, and apartments, Delos President and COO Peter Scialla told Healthcare Brew.
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“We are extremely impressed with the fact that the solution that costs the least happens to be—if done right and the right product is chosen—to be very, very strong scientifically and outmatches what can be done choosing another method,” he said.
Not just any air purifier, however, will achieve those results, Scialla stressed.
The study focused on portable units (which can also be mounted on walls) that have single-pass efficiency and air-cleaning technology. They cover about 500 square feet and cost “a few hundred dollars,” which Scialla argued makes them a relatively affordable solution for nursing homes and other facilities with outdated ventilation systems.
And unlike HVAC systems, which are often located in ceilings, the portable units allow air filtration to occur closer to where people interact.
“The senior industry can take a cue from this,” Scialla said. “The methodology is not a daunting proposition economically. It does not have to cost a fortune.”
The study, which was conducted from July to October 2022 at a skilled nursing facility in Rochester, Minnesota, used an anatomically correct breathing simulator that produced microscopic particles. Scientists examined two different-sized particles (representing viruses and bacteria) and tracked particle movement within and between rooms.