University of Connecticut : UConn Health Rallying Community to Stop Spread of COVID-19; DIY air purifiers can be made in 30 minutes for $60 worth of supplies.

ENPNewswire-December 30, 2021--University of Connecticut : UConn Health Rallying Community to Stop Spread of COVID-19; DIY air purifiers can be made in 30 minutes for $60 worth of supplies

(C)2021 ENPublishing - http://www.enpublishing.co.uk

Release date- 29122021 - UConn School of Medicine Associate Dean of Primary Care Bruce Gould, along with School of Medicine students Rohit Makol '25 and Samhita Gurrala '25 with Corsi-Rosenthal.

COVID-19 transmits more easily in overcrowded and poorly ventilated places. To address this, UConn Health has united the UConn community to kick off an Indoor Air Quality Initiative, building inexpensive do-it-yourself air purifiers as part of a pilot project to improve community health in local elementary schools, homeless shelters, and beyond.

The new initiative, organized by UConn Health and its Comprehensive Multiple Sclerosis Center, with the UConn School of Nursing, School of Engineering, School of Medicine, the Department of Public Health Sciences, and Connecticut Area Health Education Center Network, believes that a multi-pronged approach to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 can involve the community-and that accessible, inexpensive DIY portable indoor air cleaners are one effective way to do it.

Among other strategies, the initiative is building and distributing the 'Corsi-Rosenthal Box' to help stop the spread of COVID-19 and other viruses such as influenza. The boxes remove 90% of virus-carrying aerosols from the air, and are also effective against dust and allergens. With just about 30 minutes of an assembler's time and $60 worth of supplies including a box fan, high-quality air filters, cardboard and duct tape, these devices drastically reduce COVID-carrying aerosols, providing comparable filtration capabilities to expensive professionally manufactured portable HEPA filters.

'Cleaner air will protect educators, students, and families. This DIY portable air cleaner is a low-cost, evidence-based intervention that immediately improves indoor air quality,' says UConn Health MS Center Nurse Practitioner Marina A. Creed, who spearheaded the initiative with the help of friend and colleague Sarah Laskowski of The Jackson Laboratory. Creed is concerned about her patients who are educators, paraprofessionals and parents, and both she and Laskowski have children in public schools. 'My hope is that we can help make schools one of the safest places in the community, and...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT