Most U.S. public schools implemented lower cost ventilation strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic, like moving activities outdoors, but far fewer implemented higher cost strategies like replacing HVAC systems, a survey found.
Additionally, rural and mid-poverty K-12 public schools were less likely to report using the resource-intensive ventilation strategies during a recent wave of the pandemic, according to results published in MMWR.
Ventilation can reduce concentrations of infectious aerosols and the amount of time that students and staff are exposed to them, and it is linked to a lower