RENSSELAER – When Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier in the summer said that indoor shopping malls could reopen, he imposed a requirement that they have or install MERV-13 air filters or an equivalent.
It posed a big expense to many mall operators who had to find, buy and install these fine-grain filters that in some cases required retrofitting part of their ventilation systems. (MERV stands for ‘Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value’).
But no such hard-and-fast rule exists with K-12 schools, which are starting to open this week, albeit with reduced numbers, social distancing, masks, hand-washing stations and other precautions to guard against the transmission of the new coronavirus.
Without required MERV-13 filters, school leaders are looking to alternative methods of ensuring their kids are breathing fresh, clean air that is relatively untainted by the virus which can cause the respiratory illness COVID-19.
“I keep reminding teachers to take the kids outside,” Rensselaer schools Superintendent Joe Kardash said Tuesday on the first day of school in that district. Students and teachers could head for the bleachers, to shady spots near trees, or anywhere else that they could be outside and maintain their six-foot distancing rules.
That’s not to say that all of the students in the Rensselaer K-12 building were outdoors.
But Kardash’s advice was emblematic of the kind of adaptation that school leaders statewide are making in order to keep students and teachers safe during the pandemic when it comes to the HVAC, or heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in their buildings.
Normally, HVAC is one of the more prosaic and little-discussed parts of running a school. Building personnel make sure the heat and air conditioning is working and there is some fresh air coming through the vents. But the COVID-19 pandemic has elevated the importance of HVAC, with a special emphasis on the “V” or ventilation part.
And the reality is that schools which have not previously installed a MERV-13 or higher system won’t likely be able to do it quickly, or at all, given the shortage of filters and the expense of making the change.
“That’s definitely a recommendation that schools are trying to implement,” said Jeremy McDonald, an indoor air expert and principal with the Guth DeConzo engineering firm which works with a number of school districts.
Some school districts do have MERV-13 systems, McDonald said.
But getting one now would mean facing potential backlogs as well as requiring the time and planning to retrofit ventilation systems.
Even the state Education Department, which has rules and guidelines for HVAC systems in schools, acknowledges that adding a MERV-13 system could pose complications.
“We recognize there are many different types of ventilation systems, natural or mechanical, that may be limited for increasing ventilation (of) outside air due to available heat or fan/relief airflow capacity,” reads SED’s guidelines for HVAC.
“Schools may consider installing a higher efficiency filter. A higher efficiency filter may require a larger filter housing and will create greater resistance to airflow, and the fan and HVAC system may require rebalancing to maintain the code required ventilation rate.”
“If you have a system that is older and not designed for that fine MERV-13 filter, if your system can’t power through it, that’s worse,” explained Andrew Van Alstyne, director of education and research for the state Association of School Business Officials.
Moreover, HVAC systems can vary within a given district, especially if there are school buildings in multiple locations, Van Alstyne said.
Then there is the cost. While the price for a half-dozen small, desk-sized filters is less than $100, the cost of upgrading fans and other equipment to work with them can quickly escalate. The potential expenses also are coming as schools are laying off staff, cutting programs and eliminating other costs as they face a 20 percent cut in state aid.
Looking ahead, schools can quickly tap their capital reserves for items like filter upgrades, thanks to a bill that was recently signed by Cuomo, said Van Alstyne. Normally, dipping into building reserves would require a community vote, but now school board members can do that.
Further hampering schools are restrictions in some cutting edge technologies like using ionization or ultraviolet lamps to disinfect buildings after-hours when students are around.
The Education Department does not recommend using ionization with negative and positive ions due to what they say are the ozone, formaldehyde and other hazards that can result if not done properly.
They also recommend using UV rays, which can kill the coronavirus under very specific circumstances and only in spots where there would be no students.
“The concern about UV is that if it’s improperly operated it can be dangerous,” Van Alstyne said.
There are even restrictions on airflow – doors in schools are supposed to be kept closed to keep out potential intruders.
For many schools this year, the biggest air handling precautions are centering on the inspection and maintenance of existing HVAC systems to ensure they are running at peak efficiency, Van Alstyne added.
And, of course, keeping kids outdoors and opening windows, which is what Rensselaer was doing on Tuesday.
Luckily, the construction and demolition debris landfill next to the Rensselaer school last spring installed a gas collection system to help control vapors and odors from the facility, Kardash said.
Eventually, though, it will turn cold and the outdoor classes will end. Since it was built in 2006, the Rensselaer school building is equipped with fairly efficient MERV-11 filters, not MERV-13s, and they’ll continue having students, on alternate in-person and remote learning schedules to cut student density on campus, as so many other schools will be doing.
Despite the concerns, one Rensselaer parent who has closely followed the landfill issue and efforts to remedy the problem said things appeared to run smoothly at the school on Tuesday. “Everyone is just happy to be back in school and seeing each other again,” said Todd Rutecki. “Couldn't have asked for a better first day after six months of being away.”
rkarlin@timesunion.com • 518-454-5758 • @RickKarlinTU
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Unlike malls, New York schools don't require heavy duty air filters for COVID-19 - Times Union
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