How air purifiers combat COVID-19 and other air pollutants
Throughout the pandemic, air purifiers have increased in popularity due to their efficiency in eliminating toxic pollutants and viruses in the air. The World Health Organization (WHO) affirmed that COVID-19 is an airborne transmission disease that drives pandemic.
The University of Cambridge and Gœth University COVID experiment
Airborne diseases easily spread as they can linger in the air for up to three (3) hours. When an infected person coughs, sneezes, speaks, or breathes; the virus spreads in small liquid particles from their mouth or nose. When contagious particles in the air are inhaled at close range or directly contact the mouth, eyes, or nose, the other person can become infected. Throughout the pandemic, air purifiers have increased in popularity due to their efficiency in eliminating toxic pollutants and viruses in the air. Researchers and scientists from prestigious universities, including The University of Cambridge in the UK and Gœth University in Frankfurt, conducted experiments in schools and hospitals to see if air purifiers effectively mitigate the transmission of airborne diseases, including COVID-19. Both universities experimented with similar techniques, and they had successful conclusions that confirmed the effectiveness of air purifiers.
The University of Cambridge and Addenbrooke’s Hospital
The surge of COVID-19 cases overwhelmed Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, causing a lack of space to treat patients. The staff transformed their cafeteria into surge wards to treat more COVID-19 cases. Even though doctors and nurses had appropriate protective equipment to treat infected patients, there were still hospital staff that got infected due to the scarcity of clean air and adequate ventilation. Doctors, scientists, and engineers at The University of Cambridge researched Addenbrooke’s Hospital to determine whether air purifiers lowered the probability of COVID-19 transmissions between patients and hospital staff, especially in spaces with poor ventilation, such as surge wards. They performed their research in two places: the surge ward and the ICU. In the surge ward, some patients needed simple oxygen, and in the ICU, some patients needed ventilation either through machines, invasive respiratory support, or tracheostomy.
The experiment supplied both locations with air purifiers equipped with HEPA filters for seven days. In the surge ward, researchers discovered traces of COVID-19 during the sampling before the air purifier was installed. After the first week of the machine being in the surge ward, researchers could not detect the virus. For the second trial, the air purifier was switched off, and once again, researchers repeated the sampling and effectively found a trace of COVID-19. The graph below demonstrates the surge ward with and without the air purifier. The rectangle on the left projects the surge ward, and it is packed with viruses, fungus, and bacteria while the air purifier is turned off. The surge wards project cleaner air (rectangle on the right) due to the air purifier. On the other hand, in the ICU, COVID-19 was barely detected; however, researchers discovered that the machine had the power of retaining microbial bioaerosols. After the experiment, researchers were surprised at the effectiveness of the air filters in the surge ward. They concluded that HEPA air purifiers reduce and mitigate the probability of infection of airborne viruses (COVID-19). The team also stated that air purifiers equipped with HEPA filters reduce fungal, bacterial, and viral aerosols in spaces with inadequate ventilation.
Gœth University and school classrooms
The professor of Experimental Atmospheric Research at Gœth University, Joachim Curtius, experimented in a school in Frankfurt, Germany, demonstrating that air purifiers equipped with HEPA filters removed 90% of aerosol pollutants. To reach this conclusion, Professor Curtius tested four air purifiers installed in a high school classroom while regular classes were taking place. Professor Curtius monitored the number of toxic particles in the four classrooms and compared the results with the neighboring classes that were not equipped with air purifiers. The experiment results demonstrated that when classes were conducted with doors and windows closed and with air purifiers running, the concentration of aerosol pollutants reduced by more than 90% in less than 30 minutes. The graph on your right reflects the reduction of aerosol concentration in a closed classroom without an air purifier (the blue line ). Lines 3 and 4 represent how the concentration of aerosol pollutants reduced depending on what stage their purifier is on. The results of Professor Joachim Curtius demonstrate that air purifiers can undoubtedly reduce the risk of COVID-19 and other viruses that spread through aerosol transmission. He concluded that high-quality air purifiers are another measurement of precaution to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in closed spaces such as bars, shared offices, restaurants, and more.
AIR8 and HEPA filters
In AIR8, we offer high-quality air purifiers equipped with powerful HEPA filters that efficiently eliminate toxic pollutants. High-Efficiency Particulate Air, the acronym for HEPA filters, is an efficiency standard for air filters used in air purification systems and devices designed to eliminate harmful airborne pollutants such as COVID-19 effectively. A high-efficiency filter captures and eliminates 99.97 percent of fine nanoparticles in the air, including viruses, bacteria, allergies, and contaminants. In AIR8, we offer air purifiers equipped with high-quality HEPA 13 filters that remove 99.97 percent of particles as small as 0.1 microns. AIR8 is here to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in places where there is no air quality and lack of ventilation. Our products are offered at a reasonable price because we believe that breathing clean air should not be a luxury.
