Environmental Protection Agency

Opinion: Why Haven’t We Made It Safer to Breathe in Classrooms?

Posted on August 9, 2023August 25, 2023 by Creed, Marina

Two years ago, we got a chance to assure parents and teachers, in any future epidemic, that the air in classrooms was safer, making it easier for children to attend school in person and avoid learning loss and isolation.

In March 2021, Congress allocated $122 billion for schools to cope with the Covid pandemic and its aftermath — to hire tutors, retain teachers or improve their facilities. Public health and clean air advocates hoped that this would lead to widespread improvements in classroom ventilation and air quality to help ward off future pathogenic threats and reduce problems like dust, allergens and wildfire smoke.

But only about 34 percent of school districts said they used any of the money to upgrade their heating ventilation and air-conditioning systems, according to a recent survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 28 percent more installed in-room air cleaners, 8 percent said they installed ultraviolet lights — a more expensive and complicated method — and the rest reported no changes that would substantially improve air quality.

Middletown Students’ DIY Air Filtration Units Being Tested for EPA Certification

Posted on August 7, 2023 by Creed, Marina

MIDDLETOWN — Fifth-graders enrolled in an elementary school’s STEM Academy are eagerly awaiting the results of testing conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to see if their do-it-yourself air filter is capable of removing viruses and improving air quality.

Macdonough Elementary School uses project-based learning in its science, technology, engineering and mathematics-focused studies. “My students are curious. They’re problem-solvers. Those are the skills you need in the 21st century,” STEM Academy teacher John Ferrero said.

A student’s grandmother sent an article to his class in September about Corsi-Rosenthal filters, simple-to-make devices using a box fan and furnace filters, which inspired them to try and create their own to determine if they made the classroom “healthier,” he said.

EPA Testing DIY Air Purifier Built by Fifth Graders

Posted on August 7, 2023 by Creed, Marina

After wildfire smoke and the COVID-19 pandemic caused a surge in demand for air purifiers, which can be expensive or out-of-stock, the “Corsi-Rosenthal” box was born.

The simple, inexpensive device is crafted from a box fan, MERV-13 air filters, and duct tape.

Ten-year-old Eniola Shokunbi, who lives in Middletown, Connecticut, had the idea to make the box with her classmates and conduct an experiment to see if better air quality improved student attendance. She reached out to researchers at the University of Connecticut, proposing a collaboration.

“She hand-wrote me a letter and I was so impressed,” said Marina Creed, the university’s Indoor Air Quality Initiative director and an adjunct instructor at the UConn’s School of Medicine.

The students decorated the box and dubbed it “Owl Force One.”

UConn Researchers Come to Triangle to Test Air Filters that Could Reduce COVID-19 Particles

Posted on August 7, 2023 by Creed, Marina

MORRISVILLE, NC – The University of Connecticut is spending a week at the Environmental Protection Agency campus at the Research Triangle Park to test the efficacy of the Corsi-Rosenthal air filter in reducing Covid particles from the air. From UConn, Marina Creed is leading the all-women group of researchers to test the filter in a controlled setting for the first time.

“We saw that the concentrations of particles were reduced quickly in the chamber, and we’re looking forward to getting the microbiology results that will be out in the coming weeks,” said Creed.

Creed’s formally trained as a nurse practitioner, and she says that it’s her experience working during the coronavirus pandemic that prompted her into action. She formed the multi-disciplinary Indoor Air Quality Initiative at UConn to test the low-cost, do-it-yourself Corsi-Rosenthal air filters. Team members Dr. Kristina Wagstrom and Dr. Misti Levy Zamora joined Creed to work with the EPA lab for the week.

This DIY box helps clear indoor air of the coronavirus. Why aren’t more people using them?

Posted on July 31, 2022January 18, 2023 by Orlando E and Creed, Marina

The glowing box, pulsing with rainbowy light, looks as if it was dropped into this Studio City living room from a warehouse rave.

It came, in fact, from the garage where Alex LeVine has been tinkering with fans, filters and tape, trying to bring a bit of fun to a simple tool to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The mesmerizing device uses fans and filters to pull contaminants — including smoke, dog dander and the unwelcome coronavirus — out of indoor air.

It can also flash in time to the sounds of Phil Collins. “In the Air Tonight,” of course.

“People aren’t embracing any of the other things that can avert disaster in this pandemic,” said LeVine, a 49-year-old cannabis company executive with an electrical engineering degree who started building trippy do-it-yourself filtration boxes as a hobby. “Maybe I can create a way to clean the air that people want in the middle of the room.”

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