Healthy Environments

Maintaining Healthy Environments > Healthy Environments

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends schools consider implementing strategies to maintain a healthy school environment in preparation for reopening. It is important for schools to implement strategies for ventilation and water systems maintenance to ensure safe air and water for students and school staff.

Key Considerations:

Ventilation

Consult with experienced Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) professionals when considering changes to HVAC systems and equipment.
Consider ventilation system upgrades or improvements and other steps to increase the delivery of clean air and dilute potential contaminants in the school.
Increasing outdoor air ventilation by opening windows and doors. Use caution in highly polluted areas.
- Do not open windows and doors if doing so poses a safety or health risk (e.g., risk of falling, triggering asthma symptoms) to children using the facility.
- Decrease occupancy in areas where outdoor ventilation cannot be increased.
Consider using child-safe fans to increase the effectiveness of open windows.
- Position fans in or near windows so as not to induce potentially contaminated airflow directly from one individual over another.
- Consider placing fans to help draw fresh air into the classroom from open windows or to blow air from the classroom out open windows.
Using portable high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) fan/filtration systems to help enhance air cleaning (especially in higher risk areas such as the nurse’s office).
Consider using ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) as a supplement to help inactivate the virus that causes COVID-19, especially if options for increasing room ventilation are limited.
Operating restroom and kitchen exhaust fans at full capacity while the school is occupied and for 2 hours afterward.
Plans to address increasing air ventilation on school buses.

Water systems

Temporary shutdown, reduced operation of schools and/or reductions in normal water use can create water systems hazards for returning students and staff (e.g. lead or copper exposure, Legionnaires disease, and other diseases associated with water)
Flush plumbing according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards to ensure that all water systems and features (e.g. sink faucets, drinking fountains, showers, decorative fountains) are safe to use after a temporary shutdown, reduced operation or prolonged facility shutdown.
Ensure that water fountains are clean and properly maintained.
Provide access to water fountains, dispensers, and hydration stations throughout the school.
Allow students to have water bottles in class or to go to the water fountain if they need to drink water.