For many school-age kids, summer is synonymous with summer camp, which isn’t a bad thing. In fact, experts say camp helps kids develop the social, emotional and cognitive skills that will carry them into adulthood. But after more than a year of COVID-19, this year’s summer camps come with unique safety concerns. Luckily, Air Oasis can help match camps of all sizes with the best air purifiers to fit their specific needs.
What Experts Recommend
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the best way to protect against COVID-19 is vaccination. Regardless of vaccine guidance, the CDC has outlined additional steps youth camps can take to protect their younger campers.
To prevent the transmission of COVID-19 at summer camps, the CDC recommends that both campers and staff undergo health screenings, choose outdoor over indoor activities when possible and embrace multiple prevention strategies, such as masking, handwashing and physical distancing.
However, it’s rarely feasible for camps to operate fully outdoors. The CDC encourages camps that utilize indoor spaces to continue following its cleaning, disinfecting and ventilation recommendations, including using air purifiers to increase air exchange and filtration. This keeps particulates that contain bacteria and even viruses from concentrating indoors.
Air Purifiers for Classrooms
The COVID-19 pandemic put the indoor air quality of many spaces, including the classroom, in the spotlight. Even before the pandemic, there was a growing body of evidence that suggested that indoor air quality affected students’ ability to learn. Data from several studies, including the one linked, indicates that students perform worse in classrooms with higher levels of air contamination such as dust, allergens and VOCs.
Indoor air quality isn’t just a problem that schools face: homes, businesses and workspaces of all kinds can benefit from assessing their air quality. Healthy Buildings, a program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, promotes better air quality across all sectors by publishing research on how buildings affect people’s health. It also researches how school buildings influence student health, thinking and performance.
Schools don’t need to overhaul their entire ventilation systems to improve air quality. By utilizing the appropriate portable air purifiers for each space, schools can protect their students from mold, allergens, indoor pollutants and even virus droplets in the air.
In October 2020, Pirates pitcher Keone Kela partnered with Air Oasis to donate 25 air purifiers to Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania. The donation of G3 Series UV Ionic Air Purifiers allowed the organization to continue safely serving nearly 12,000 local youth during the pandemic. Like all Air Oasis products, the G3 purifiers have been lab tested to ensure they are effective against allergens, odors, mold, bacteria and viruses in the air.
Air Purifiers for Day Camps
COVID-19 doesn’t end with the school year, and neither can the safety measures taken to protect children and their families. Air Oasis air purifiers have the technology to deactivate viruses and bacteria, but COVID-19 isn’t the only reason day camps should prioritize clean air. Research suggests that indoor air pollution poses a significant threat to children’s health.
The Importance of Clean Indoor Air for Preschoolers
Young children are especially vulnerable to air pollution because their lungs aren’t fully developed, yet they breathe in more air per unit of body weight than adults. Children also suffer from more frequent respiratory infections than most adults. This may make air pollution a great source of irritation or exacerbate symptoms common for immature lungs.
Although the link between air pollution and asthma, bronchitis and respiratory infections is well-established, a growing body of scientific research points to a new threat: air pollution’s impact on the developing brain. During the first 1,000 days of life, a child’s brain goes through its most rapid and important growth. Studies suggest that air pollution exposure can reduce young children’s verbal and non-verbal IQ, memory and test scores.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are so many sources of indoor air pollution at childcare facilities that the air is considered two to five times more polluted than the outdoor air. Common sources of pollution include building materials and furnishings, cleaning and maintenance products and heating and cooling systems.
The Importance of Clean Indoor Air for School Age Children
Preschoolers aren’t the only children affected by poor indoor air quality (IAQ). Research suggests that IAQ significantly impacts the well being and learning achievements of school-age children as well. In a study involving 100 schools in the U.S., researchers demonstrated measurable progress in math and reading scores in classrooms that improved IAQ.
Michael Gilraine, an economist at New York University, conducted a study of the effect of air filters on student achievement amid the largest gas leak in U.S. history. The offending gas company installed air filters in every classroom within five miles of the leak. The result was substantial improvements in student performance, compared to before the leak, including higher mathematics and English scores. Gilraine suggested that installing air purifiers is one of the most cost-effective education policies available today.
Air Purifiers for Kids: The Best Technology for the Best Outcomes
Air purifiers shouldn’t be reserved for the classroom. They belong anywhere (and everywhere) a child spends time indoors this summer. Air Oasis offers air purifiers that fit a variety of spaces, no matter how large or small. Whether your child is attending a basketball camp in a large gymnasium, a chess camp on a university campus or a traditional summer camp in a rustic cabin, their administrators and coordinators can find an air purifier that fits the space.
Air purifiers help kids avoid viruses and bacteria in the air, including COVID-19. In addition to the pathogens that air purifiers remove from the air, they also get rid of allergens, mold, smoke, odors and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). You will breathe easier knowing that your child is breathing clean air.
Air Oasis: Supporting Kids This Summer
From featured products to direct connections with day camp administrators, the team at Air Oasis is committed to keeping all of our kids safe this summer. We offer a variety of air purifiers that can increase the air quality and decrease contaminants in any space.
Not many air filtration products can compare with the efficiency and sleekness of the iAdaptAir® HEPA Air Purifier. Its high-quality HEPA filter, carbon filter, UV, silver ion and Bi-Polar® technologies eliminate pollutants, leaving your indoor space with the cleanest air possible. This air purifier for camp is available in three sizes, all of which are controllable from a phone app.
If you believe in the benefits of cleaner air, don’t wait until you notice your IAQ decrease. Be proactive by shopping for air purifiers at Air Oasis now.
