All of these wonderful links are courtesy of Sri's hard work.
We are approaching another potentially scary fire season. During last year’s wildfire season, on some days, San Francisco experienced some of the worst air quality in the world. There was one day when the daylight sky was an eerie dark orange. It felt like something out of the ten plagues.
Fingers crossed that there won’t be a repeat of that, but in any event it is better to be prepared. That means it is time to make sure you have a good supply of N95 masks that fit properly, as well as adequate Hepa Filters (air cleaners) for your home, school, daycare, and office.
I know from past experience that once it is apparent that there is smoke in the air, the availability goes down and the prices go up. Just the thought of it is anxiety producing, but simple wishing won’t keep us safe.
Records show air quality (PM 2.5) severely deteriorated in the Bay Area between August to October, and around August is when essentials (HEPA, N95) became hard to find. This year the fire season could start earlier, so the time to prepare is now before the rush.
Parents, teachers, and principals at San Francisco schools need to know that if they work together they can likely get HEPA air purifiers in classrooms, but they need to act quickly before the start of the fire season when HEPA filters run out of stock.
It’s not only about smoke from wildfires. Fresh air ventilation from outside is one of the best ways to reduce viral transmission such as Coronavirus by aerosols. However, access to fresh outdoor air is not always feasible during wildfire season when the source of the aerosol (PM 2.5) is from outdoors. In such situations, a good HEPA filter is not only helpful for smoke, but can also reduce viruses in the air, especially in shared spaces like classrooms and offices according to the CDC and SF Department of Public Health.
This is important because kids will be returning to in person learning in the classroom but many schools in San Francisco do not have HEPA filters. If they do, often these portable units are tagged as “most popular” or “Amazon’s choice,” but tend to be vastly underpowered for the size of the classroom.
Dr. Anne’s husband Sri decided to take some action when he discovered their children’s school had inadequate HEPA filters in the classrooms. Because HEPA filters were not in the school budget, he took it upon himself to collaborate with other like-minded parents at the school and convince the parent’s association to raise money to get them purchased. Given past difficulties in fundraising for other causes at the school, the parents association leadership had doubts they could fund HEPA filter upgrades for the entire school. But to their surprise, within a week, 23 families (5% out of 400 at the school) plus one anonymous corporate matching donor funded the necessary HEPA air purifier upgrades for every classroom exceeding the original goal. This shows there is broad community support for air safety. It is nice to know that most people can agree on something!
A common mistake that people make is to use a HEPA air purifier that is too small for the size of their room so ends up not having the intended effect. Sri created a calculator to help people figure out how large of a machine they need in each classroom and for the entire home, school or office.
It is not surprising that many teachers at his kids' school had assumed the HEPA filter they already had was good enough. Also because they were so busy with numerous other duties, few teachers had responded to the initial request asking whether they wanted to upgrade the HEPA filter in their classroom. It was not until he sent a follow up message with the attention-grabbing subject “VERY IMPORTANT -- THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION” and pointed out unless teachers responded affirmatively to the request the parents association would not upgrade their HEPA unit that every teacher in the school confirmed they wanted the upgraded HEPA unit in their classroom.
In addition to helping me with this post, Sri put together the following list for parents who want to take action. It is amazing how much positive change even one or two active parents can make in a school!
If you are a parent and concerned about air safety and interested in helping your child’s school get some HEPA filters Sri recommends the following steps:
Contact the principal and explain the need for adequately sized HEPA filters in each classroom
Estimate the size of HEPA filters needed for each classroom and for the entire school by first measuring the size of the classrooms and use the calculator.
Check and confirm with each teacher 1:1 that they will accept and use the upgraded HEPA filter in their classroom (or not).
In each case of principals and teachers don’t equate non-response with a “no”: Without bringing the issue to the attention of the primary stakeholders (parents, principals and teachers), and operators (teachers) of the HEPA filter units, many of them may be unaware and miss out on the opportunity for cleaner air. However, for such an important issue as HEPA filters, it is critical to provide both informed consent and receive a response from each and every stakeholder rather than to assume non-response is a ‘no.’ They may simply be busy and not have had the time to understand and respond.
If necessary write to them with all caps to get their attention: “VERY IMPORTANT -- THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION”
Work with the parents in the school to fundraise for the HEPA air purifiers. Consider using a need-specific fundraiser to rapidly raise funds from the parent community rather than general fundraisers.
Contact them via in-person and online networks at your school (e.g. ParentSquare).
Seek funds from matching corporate donors as well. Get creative.
Important: In shared spaces like classrooms or offices if the HEPA air cleaner to control Coronavirus particles accumulation in the air it is very important to override the “auto” setting and set the HEPA air filter’s fan speed to the maximum speed (or if max speed is too noisy then then the next one down) because the built-in sensor does not detect Coronavirus particles.
Sri can be reached by email at sri@patientknowhow.com if you have any questions. He will also hold a Q&A session on
on June 17 at 4pm (Zoom link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83869310710)
These days it feels like we have so little control on all the things swirling around us. It is nice to have something actionable that you can do. Go out and kick some butt!!!
Even if you are not up for the Butt Kicking, at the very least take care of your own needs and make sure you get those masks and filters now.
This is nothing to kid around about. Recently published research from UC San Diego says the effect of wildfire-specific pollution on respiratory health is up to ten times worse for children (particularly for children aged 0 to 5 years) compared to other sources of smoke.
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