Thread by @DrEricDing

⚠️DON’T BE DUPED—schools often buying junk air purifiers instead of proven HEPA filters. Avoid ionization, plasma and dry hydrogen peroxide—that the Lancet #COVID19 Commission recently deemed “often unproven” & potential sources of pollution themselves. 🧵
khn.org/news/article/a…

2) Schools have been “bombarded with persistent salespersons peddling the latest air and cleaning technologies, including those with minimal evidence to-date supporting safety and efficacy” according to a report released Thursday by the Center for Green Schools and ASHRAE.

3) In the frenzy, schools are buying technology that air-quality experts warn can lull them into a false sense of security or even potentially harm kids. And schools often overlook that trusted contractors — engineering, HVAC/consulting firms — stand to earn big money from deals

4) Academic experts are encouraging schools to pump in more fresh air and use tried-and-true filters, like HEPA, to capture the virus. Yet every ion- or hydroxyl-blasting air purifier sale strengthens a firm’s next pitch: The device is doing a great job in the neighboring town.

5) “Global Plasma Solutions wanted to test whether the company’s air-purifying devices could kill covid-19 virus particles but could find only a lab using a chamber the size of a shoebox for its trials. In the company-funded study, the virus was blasted with 27,000 ions per cm^3”

6) “In Sept, the company’s founder incidentally mentioned that devices being offered for sale actually deliver a lot less ion power—13x less—into a full-sized room. The company nonetheless used the shoebox results — >99% viral reduction—in marketing its device heavily to schools

7) “as something that could combat covid in classrooms far, far larger than a shoebox.
School officials desperate to calm worried parents bought these devices and others with a flood of federal funds, installing them in >2,000 schools across 44 states, a KHN investigation found.”

8) They use the same technology — ionization, plasma and dry hydrogen peroxide — that the Lancet COVID-19 Commission recently deemed “often unproven” and potential sources of pollution themselves.

9) Marwa Zaatari @marwa_zaatari, a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ (ASHRAE) Epidemic Task Force, first compiled a list of schools and districts using such devices.

10) Schools have been “bombarded with persistent salespersons peddling the latest air and cleaning technologies, including those with minimal evidence to-date supporting safety and efficacy” according to a report released Thursday by the Center for Green Schools and ASHRAE.

11) @marwa_zaatari said she was particularly concerned that officials in New Jersey are buying thousands of devices made by another company that says they emit ozone, which can exacerbate asthma and harm developing lungs, according to decades of research.

12) “We’re going to live in a world where the air quality in schools is worse after the pandemic, after all of this money,” @marwa_zaatari said. “It’s really sickening.”

13) The sales race is fueled by roughly $193 billion in federal funds allocated to schools for teacher pay and safety upgrades — a giant fund that can be used to buy air cleaners.

14) In April, Global Plasma Solutions said further tests show its devices inactivate covid in the air and on surfaces in larger chambers. The company studies still use about twice the level of ions than its leaders have publicly said the devices can deliver, KHN found.

15) There is virtually no federal oversight or enforcement of safe air-cleaning technology. Only California bans air cleaners that emit a certain amount of ozone.

16) U.S. Rep. Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.), chair of the education and labor committee, said the federal government typically is not involved in local decisions of what products to buy, although he hopes for more federal guidance.

17) In the meantime, “these school systems are dealing with contractors providing all kinds of services,” he said, “so you just have to trust them to get the best expert advice on what to do.”

18) These go-between contractors — and the air cleaner companies themselves — have a stake in the sales. While their names might appear in school board records, their role in selling the device or commission from the deal is seldom made public, KHN found.

19) A LinkedIn job ad with the logo for one air purifier company, ActivePure Technology, which employs former Trump adviser Dr. Deborah Birx as its chief medical and science adviser, recruited salespeople this way: “Make Tons of Money with this COVID-killing Technology!!”

20) The commission, the post said, is up to $900 per device.
“We have reps [who] made over 6-figures in 1 month selling to 1 school district,” the ad says. “This could be the biggest opportunity you have seen!”

21) Tested in Shoebox, Sold for Classrooms
While New York officials are “not permitting” the installation of ionization devices due to “potential negative health effects,” schools across the state of New Jersey are installing ionizing devices.

22) in Montclair, NJ, parents have been raising hell over the new Global Plasma Solutions’ ionizing devices in their children’s classrooms. The company website promises a product that emits ions like those “created w/ energy from rushing water, crashing waves and even sunlight.”

24) the district spent $635,900 on installing ionizers, which would go in classrooms serving more than 6,000 kids. The devices are often installed in ducts the company founder Charles Waddell said, because the ions that are emitted lose their power after 60 seconds.

25) But the company’s shoebox study and inflated ion blast numbers that helped sell the product last year leave a potential customer with little sense of how the device would perform in a classroom, Zaatari said.
“It’s a high cost for nothing,” Zaatari said.

26) The company has sued her and another air-quality consultant for criticizing their devices. Of the pending case, @marwa_zaatari said it is a David-versus-Goliath situation, but she will not be deterred from speaking on behalf of children.

27) great reporting by @LaurenWeberHP and @By_CJewett.

My colleagues at @smartrestartaps have previously advocated to @MarkWarnerVA @MarkWarner on this exact topic in March too. Glad it’s getting more attention.

khn.org/news/article/a…

28) Actually in February 2021, @smartrestartaps and @APSHearOurVoice and local teachers advocated for more details in funding specifically for only spending money in schools on classes of products that are CDC recommended.

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1365698797075070987

29) Specifically, the CDC only recommends HEPA filters and safe UV devices (including safe upper room UV) on the CDC website that doesn’t harm kids. Detailed thread on CDC recommendations below. 🧵

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1365678603212648461

30) to be clear, the academic scientists do recommend HEPA and certain safe UV products. And portable HEPA filters do work really well. Here is a study on it and #COVID19

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1363638390432948227

31) And for larger venues, upper room UV might be better for very larger rooms. And both HEPA and UV are commended by the CDC directly! But no other product types!

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1365718673336467462

32) And the EPA recommends HEPA portable machines was well - though with enough CADR cleaning capacity for the room it’s used in.

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1365715009683279872

33) Here is a quick summary of the CDC and academic scientist recommended indoor air strategies…

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1365702921044819971

34) Oh hey look, a press release on company Global Plasma Solutions peddling their stuff. This is the infamous company that pushed the sketchy “shoebox” study mentioned above, and company attacking Dr @marwa_zaatari with a junk lawsuit to intimidate her.
businesswire.com/news/home/2020…