When used correctly, air and HVAC filters can help reduce airborne contaminants, including viruses, in a small building or space. Air cleanliness or filtration alone isn't enough to protect people from COVID-19. Filters are designed to improve indoor air quality by physically removing small particles of matter that may be floating, such as dust, pollen, and pet dander. These are all things that occur naturally, but they can aggravate people's allergies if they breathe them in. The most common type of household filters right now are HEPA filters. Disinfectants are designed to kill bacteria, viruses, mold, or fungal spores that may also be floating.
These things also occur naturally, but they can make you sick if you are exposed to sufficiently high concentrations of them. The most common type of disinfectant right now is ultraviolet light devices. Ozone generators alter the standard oxygen molecule to have three atoms instead of just two. The three-atom molecule is called ozone, not oxygen, and it interacts differently with its environment than the normal air we breathe. Air purifiers that use HEPA filters, UV light, or ionizers are OK.
However, inhaling ozone can cause coughing, throat irritation, shortness of breath, and other problems, even in healthy people. Ozone can even cause damage to the lungs, so local weather authorities sometimes issue ozone alerts. Keep in mind that unless you have someone with an active COVID-19 infection in your household, you won't have any source of coronavirus to reduce or filter with any of these methods. Therefore, you will change the air quality inside your home in other ways. What do you want people to know about air purifiers? Air purifiers are not a magic formula. Therefore, it's important to think of them more as part of your plan than as part of your entire plan. Let's say I visit him at his house and I still don't know if I have COVID-19. If I sneeze at you just two feet away and neither of you is wearing a mask, then your risk of exposure will definitely increase, even if you have an air purifier nearby.
But if you live alone and you're the only one there, the chances of contracting coronavirus from the air in your own home are practically nil. The CADR reflects, in cubic feet per minute, the volume of clean air produced by an air purifier at its maximum speed. Wearing masks without air filters reduced receiver aerosol exposure by 72%, and wearing air filters without masks reduced exposure by up to 65%. While the FDA has not yet verified these claims, the results suggest that the EnviroKlenz air cartridge could, at a minimum, be an effective way to capture and filter pathogens similar in size to coronavirus, especially with airborne transmission as the main form of Covid-19 infection. In this study, the air in the conference room was well mixed, which helped transport the aerosols to the air purifiers. Using an air purifier at home can be a good idea at any time, to help filter indoor allergens and contaminants, such as fumes from kitchen and cleaning products. These findings suggest that the use of portable HEPA air filters and universal masking may reduce exposure to simulated SARS-CoV-2 aerosols indoors, and that greater reductions occur when air filters and masking are used together.
Surprisingly, the team didn't find many viral particles in the ICU room air, even when the filter was turned off. Researchers led by intensivist Andrew Conway-Morris PhD of the Anesthesia Division of the Faculty of Clinical Medicine University of Cambridge UK write that previous experiments evaluated the ability of air filters to remove inactive particles in carefully controlled environments but they don't know how they would work in a real world environment. In 2003 during the SARS outbreak the Hong Kong Hospital Authority recommended that hospitals use portable air purifiers with HEPA filters to help reduce transmission to healthcare workers if isolation rooms were not available. The team chose high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters which expel air through a fine mesh that traps extremely small particles. If ventilating the room isn't an option you can try using a high-efficiency particulate air purifier (HEPA). This combination of filters makes it remarkably quiet cleaning the air with a sound level equivalent to a gentle whisper (23-53 dB). As the name suggests these filters are very good for taking things out of the air and holding them so they can't circulate again. The faster an air cleaner can circulate air through the filter the better your chances of trapping virus particles.
Combined with a manual timer and filter status update lights this minimalist air purifier is worth it for a reason. But you'll also wonder if an air purifier can prevent COVID-19 by capturing virus particles that might be traveling through the air.
