Indoor air monitoring goes to school

The COVID-19 pandemic put the importance of indoor air quality in stark relief. The air in schools was of particular concern, and that concern spurred collaboration between researchers and school staff to find interventions to improve air quality to safeguard the health of students and staff. Data from indoor air monitors revealed that filter-based portable air cleaners were effective at removing airborne particulates. Ongoing research and monitoring will determine if this effort is making a beneficial health impact and will be used decide how to manage indoor air quality going forward. The science of indoor air quality used to be of interest only to researchers and people working in hazardous spaces. Then the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world. Seemingly overnight, people outside those niche communities began worrying over the quality of indoor air . Schools were a focal point: kids needed to return to class, and virus-free air was