Podcast about air quality in NSW classrooms

As NSW students prepare for a staged return to school around  mid-October, concerns have been expressed about the lack of air purification systems in NSW classrooms as well as the absence of CO2 monitors to check the air quality. However, there has recently been a  reconsideration of the need for such equipment in some of the state's schools, particularly schools with sealed classrooms where windows don't open and only air-conditioners are used.

To explore this issue in more depth, I spoke to Lidia Morawksa, professor in the school of earth and atmospheric sciences at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). As the esteemed academic is not a virologist, she spoke about the issue of the pandemic from a physics and air quality perspective.

While the QUT professor said that opening windows is the best way to eliminate the amount of COVID-19 particles in the classroom, she added that this was not always possible due to extreme temperatures (hot and cold) as well as pollutants from bushfires, for example. And while Morawska says that air purification is effective in eliminating particles relating to COVID-19, common colds, flus, and other respiratory conditions, the one thing they cannot eliminate is gaseous pollutants such as carbon dioxide, which humans exhale.

Elevated levels of carbon dioxide can cause poor concentration, loss of attention, increased heart rate, nausea and other more serious health issues. 

In a nutshell, the professor contends that the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing the education system to reconsider not only how classroom air quality will help combat the pandemic, but how "air quality", in general, "is a much broader issue."  She added that this issue is far from a new phenomenon, and European countries are already working towards solutions to this issue,

As NSW students prepare for a staged return to school around&nbsp; mid-October, concerns have been expressed about the lack of air purification systems in NSW classrooms as well as the absence of CO2 monitors to check the air quality. However, there has recently been a&nbsp; reconsideration of the need for such equipment in some of the state's schools, particularly schools with sealed classrooms where windows don't open and only air-conditioners are used.
To explore this issue in more depth, I spoke to Lidia Morawksa, professor in the school of earth and atmospheric sciences at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). As the esteemed academic is not a virologist, she spoke about the issue of the pandemic from a physics and air quality perspective.
While the QUT professor said that opening windows is the best way to eliminate the amount of COVID-19 particles in the classroom, she added that this was not always possible due to extreme temperatures (hot and cold) as well as pollutants from bushfires, for example. And while Morawska says that air purification is effective in eliminating particles relating to COVID-19, common colds, flus, and other respiratory conditions, the one thing they cannot eliminate is gaseous pollutants such as carbon dioxide, which humans exhale.
Elevated levels of carbon dioxide can cause poor concentration, loss of attention, increased heart rate, nausea and other more serious health issues.&nbsp;
In a nutshell, the professor contends that the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing the education system to reconsider not only how classroom air quality will help combat the pandemic, but how "air quality", in general, "is a much broader issue."&nbsp; She added that this issue is far from a new phenomenon, and European countries are already working towards solutions to this issue,

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