Preventing COVID-19 in schools with Aranet4 PRO

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Air quality monitoring: Case Study

Ensuring indoor air quality is challenging, especially with COVID-19, which is now recognized as an airborne virus. Professor Jose-Luis Jimenez and other scientists have emphasized the importance of proper ventilation.

Educational institutions like schools, kindergartens, and universities pose particular challenges due to crowded, enclosed spaces where numerous individuals converse, emitting aerosols into the air. If any student or teacher is infected with COVID-19, these aerosols become a likely medium for virus transmission.

The most effective way to reduce this risk is through proper ventilation. However, many schools may not have the budget for a high-quality ventilation system. In such cases, a cost-effective solution could be installing CO2 meters to signal when to open windows, potentially saving lives.

For instance, consider Ventspils, a Latvian city on the western coast. The city council aimed to safeguard children’s health, so they partnered with Aranet and local company Aspired to implement a networked CO2 meter solution in 19 schools and kindergartens.

Nineteen schools and kindergartens each utilized an Aranet4 PRO base station to gather data from sensors in classrooms. This data was then transmitted to Aranet Cloud, providing a centralized overview of all institutions through Aspired software integration. In total, 475 Aranet4 PRO sensors and 20 Aranet PRO base stations were installed.

Aspired not only installed the equipment but also integrated the Aranet Cloud data into their system. They created a centralized view of schools and their maps and set up classroom screens with alert animations for teachers. Furthermore, they coached school staff on indoor air quality and CO2 meter use for proper ventilation.

“The installation process was easy and straight forward. You don’t need to be an IT expert to install Aranet4 devices,” – says Davids Egle, CEO of Aspired. “API allowed us to access data from Aranet Cloud and ensured easy integration with our software.”

Our project had an immediate impact. When the Aranet4 PRO device’s indicator turned red (indicating CO2 levels over 1400ppm), the staff promptly opened windows. Remarkably, one day, a kindergarten’s sleeping area reached 4000ppm, highlighting the importance of CO2 monitoring.

Reflecting upon the project, Diana, one of the pre-school teachers, remarked that “when air quality decreases indoors, we can clearly see that children become sleepier and more apathetic. I think that air quality control devices give the opportunity for children to live in a better and cleaner environment, and we have to do all what is in our capabilities to provide that”.

Aranet4 devices have played a crucial role in safeguarding schools worldwide from airborne COVID-19, notifying teachers to ensure classroom safety. Trusted by renowned institutions like Harvard, Caltech, Stanford, as well as smaller local communities like Ventspils, we provide tailored solutions to suit various sizes and requirements.