Queensland schools are being encouraged to increase natural airflow in classrooms, or hold lessons outdoors, when school resumes to help reduce COVID-19 transmission — but air quality experts say the measures do not go far enough.
The guidelines do not encourage schools to use carbon dioxide monitors — a proxy measurement for ventilation — to assess ventilation risks, or to install HEPA filters, which air quality experts have been strongly recommending.
Last year, ABC Radio Brisbane reported that a high school teacher had recorded a high-risk ventilation level more than four times the recommended level in his classroom, prompting fresh calls for ventilation audits.
The guidelines updated on January 13 come after Education Minister Grace Grace last year ordered a working committee, that included state and non-government education stakeholders, to investigate ventilation, and said information would be released by December 17, 2021.
An education department spokesperson said the department had considered advice from health authorities, Safe Work Australia, the World Health Organisation, the Doherty Institute and other states and territories, and had "strengthened advice and checklists" via its online resources.
Ways to promote natural air flow
The measures include schools opening windows, if safe to do so and weather permits, and to have several windows partially open rather than keeping one window fully open, to maximise natural ventilation.
"Also consider conducting activities, classes or lunches outdoors when circumstances allow," the recommendations said.
The other recommendations include ensuring air-conditioners are clean, well-maintained, and draw in air from outside, and using ceiling fans to improve fresh air circulation.
Pedestal fans should be set to the lowest speed and not blow air from one person directly past another, the guidelines said.
'We follow the health advice'
Yesterday, Ms Grace said nearly 96 per cent of Queensland classrooms, staff rooms and libraries were fully air-conditioned with units that brought in fresh air.
Experts repeat calls for audit
UNSW Associate Professor Donna Green, who is an affiliated investigator at the NHMRC Centre for Air Pollution, said prioritising natural ventilation is crucial.
"[In the department's advice] there's all the caveats around, 'If it's dangerous, don't do it'," she said.
"You have to do it, if you don't do it, then you have to have HEPA [filters] and the amount of HEPA [filters] that you're going to need is going to depend on the ventilation or the exchange rate in the room."
Professor Lidia Morawska, director of the International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health at QUT, a WHO collaborating centre, said it was "extremely important" that the department had put emphasis on ventilation.
Professor Morawska said increasing natural airflow, opening windows, having fans on and increasing airflow in the right direction were good measures.
Indoor ventilation needed to be assessed, for example by carbon dioxide monitors, to understand whether the measures was adequate, Professor Morawska said.
Guidelines updated
In response to the ABC's questions about why the guidelines did not include advice about carbon dioxide monitoring or the use of HEPA filters, an education department spokesperson late yesterday said it would audit school ventilation where needed.
"Should schools require any further support in assessing ventilation in their learning spaces, the department will audit their facilities, including measurement of carbon dioxide levels and taking account of local conditions to identify any additional measures required," a spokesperson said.
Independent Education Union Queensland and Northern Territory branch president Terry Burke said good ventilation was clearly a critical part of health interventions that made schools safer, and called for steps to be taken to monitor ventilation and install air filters if needed.
Queensland Teachers' Union president Cresta Richardson said the state was lucky that most classrooms had "fans and windows that open and for those that don't, the use of those classrooms should be minimised".
Opposition education spokesman Christian Rowan said the government should listen to the expert advice.
