Coronavirus is believed to spread through respiratory droplets generated by someone carrying the disease when they cough or sneeze. Covering your mouth, washing your hands and continually disinfecting surfaces you touch often are the first steps to combat the spread of Coronavirus. Having good indoor air quality can also help the spread of disease and keep your home safe.
Americans spend on average 90% of their time indoors, where concentrations of pollutants are often 2 to 5 times higher than they would be outside. Residual particles of the Coronavirus can be airborne in your home or facility. While an HVAC system certainly won't prevent your facilities from infection, it can certainly help. Having a good filtering system, humidity control and constantly having air circulation in your facilities can keep your air cleaner.
When looking at filtering systems, it’s important to note what percentage of particles are being trapped from entering your air system through the filter. Different filters are meant to trap different sized particles. For example, a 1-inch filter with MERV-1 rating is meant to trap larger particles visible to the eye, such as dust and droplets. In order to get the best filtration, it’s recommended to get filtration systems with higher MERV rating, to filter as many microns as possible. IPI offers both MERV-8 and MERV-9 filters as standard products but can also provide higher MERV rated filters upon request.
Controlling your humidity can also help improve the quality of your facilities air. The recommendation is to keep your humidity between 40-60%, because viruses are less feasible in that environment. An air humidifier can help keep your air at the recommended humidity.
Continuing to practice social distancing, washing your hands often, and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces as often as possible. This includes tables, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, toilets, faucets, and sinks.
We hope you stay safe and healthy! IPI is taking several precautions to help ensure the health and safety of not only our staff and incarcerated workers but also Iowa’s entire correctional staff and prison population. Please read the full letter issued 04/07/20.
Order Air Filters today through your Sales or Customer Service Representative at 800-332-7922 or ipicustomerservice@iowa.gov