Can A Home Air Purification System Protect My Family From COVID-19?
As the world continues fighting COVID-19, many people are understandably scared for their families. This fear has led to people trying to find ways of keeping their families safe during this pandemic. Before trying to understand if an air purification system can help protect your family, it is important to understand how the virus is spread and how ventilation systems work.
Table of Contents
How COVID-19 Is Spread
The coronavirus is very small and because of this, it needs a medium for transfer. This medium is often saliva. Tiny droplets from when someone talks, laughs, sings, coughs, or sneezes form in the air and can infect people around an infected person. According to various health departments around the world, the chances of infection increase if you are in an enclosed space and within 6 feet of an infected person for as little as 15 minutes.
Managing Indoor Air
Managing indoor air is very important to ensure the tiny droplets that carry the virus do not hang around, but it is not an effective measure by itself. Wearing a mask, staying at least 6 feet from someone else, practicing proper hand hygiene, and disinfecting surfaces that are touched or exposed often can all help stop the spread.
Can An Air Purifier Protect My Family?
The real answer is, it depends on how the air purifier is used. Two of the things that make it possible for an air purifier to reduce the chances of infection include your ability to bring in and push out a huge volume of air and the type of filter used on the purifier.
Your purification system should have a HEPA filter. Because the virus attaches itself to microscopic droplets or even dust in the air, you need a filter that will capture all this matter and hold it in place. Although the filter will not kill the virus (studies show it will die in 9-12 hours), you will still need to change it at appropriate intervals if it is doing more work than it is used to.
If you use a portable air filter, ensure it is placed in rooms that see a lot of traffic or where vulnerable people spend a lot of time. Additionally, ensure the air filter directs the flow of the filtered air outwards to prevent the recirculation of air.
Keeping Your Family Safe
While taking measures to reduce the spread of the virus in your home is an excellent idea, nothing beats staying vigilant to know if you are infected if you think you have been exposed. The best place to start if you suspect you have been exposed is getting tested. Getting a rapid COVID test in MN is now easier than it was a few months ago. Just remember that these rapid tests are available by appointment and for up to 4 members in a group. By knowing if you have been infected or not, you can keep your family safe before implementing measures to minimize the spread of the virus in the house.
It is understandable to be wary of the coronavirus, but there are measures that you can take to protect yourself and your family. Doctors advise that you have as many layers of protection as possible. You can use masks, proper handwashing, keeping physical distance, and reducing the number of people in a given space in conjunction with a high-quality air purification system to minimize the chances of the virus spreading in your home if it ever gets in.