Education centres: efficient ventilation against the risk of infection
How are you supposed to concentrate in a class, lecture, or training session like that? This question is asked by all those who are completing their training in education centres during the corona pandemic. Given the circumstances, regular ventilation is the main agenda - regardless of the prevalent temperatures outside. While it may be a pleasant refreshment in summer, ventilation in the autumn and winter months can sometimes be icy cold, and unpleasant. Regular ventilation for minutes at a time at low temperatures often results in students freezing and being unable to concentrate during the lesson. Another disadvantage of these rigid ventilation measures: they cause high heating costs and are also harmful to the climate.
Ventilation decreases the infection-risk
Nevertheless, closed classrooms need to be ventilated to protect everybody from infection. Ventilation prevents aerosols from spreading in the room. The liquid particles are dangerous because they can transmit the SARS-CoV2 coronavirus, among other things. To eject aerosols, it is sufficient for the people in the room to breathe, cough, speak or sneeze. In consequence, this means: Open the window! An alternative solution is to leave the room, which would highly disrupt regular classes.
The sensing Ampel as an indicator for CO2
Now two important questions arise: When is the right time to open the window? And how long should the room be ventilated? So far there has been no indicator in classrooms that sounds the alarm when ventilation is required. This is exactly the task that the "CO2 Ampel" will take over from now on. It helps to determine the aerosol concentration in the room and consequently to reduce the risk of infection. How does the Ampel work? It measures the CO2 concentration in the room and evaluates it. Because the more CO2 there is in the room, the higher the aerosol concentration - and thus the risk of infection. How do I recognize the danger with the help of the Ampel? Quite simply, using the three different colours. If red appears, the room should be ventilated or vacated immediately. Yellow means: attention is required. Green means: All good, there is no danger. This means that both teachers and students always know how high the current risk of infection is. The Ampel gives them a sense of security. An additional plus: the Ampel also helps against headaches and loss of concentration. These symptoms are side effects of poor air quality when the CO2-concentration in the air is too high.