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Health

Schools cut covid-19 sick days by 20 per cent using HEPA air filters

Placing HEPA air filters into classrooms in the Bradford area of the UK reduced the number of covid-19-related absences among students by more than 20 per cent

By Clare Wilson

20 October 2023

A HEPA filter in a classroom at Bowling Park Primary School in Bradford, UK

A HEPA filter in a classroom at Bowling Park Primary School in Bradford, UK

University of Leeds

Air filter machines put into a handful of UK schools reduced the number of covid-19-related sick days by more than 20 per cent, the first such randomised trial of the intervention has found.

HEPA filters, devices about the size of a tall kitchen waste bin, were placed in the classrooms of schools in the Bradford area. The results haven’t yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal, but one of the researchers revealed the 20 per cent fall …

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