Is an Air Purifier Helpful for COVID-19?

When used correctly, air purifiers can help reduce airborne pollutants, including viruses, in the home. However, on its own, a portable air purifier is not enough to protect people from COVID-19. Filters are designed to improve indoor air quality by physically removing small particles of matter that may be floating, such as dust, pollen, and pet dander. These are all things that occur naturally, but they can aggravate people's allergies if they breathe them in. The most common type of household filters right now are HEPA filters.

Disinfectants are designed to kill bacteria, viruses, mold, or fungal spores that may also be floating. These things also occur naturally, but they can make you sick if you are exposed to sufficiently high concentrations of them. The most common type of disinfectant right now is ultraviolet light devices. Ozone generators alter the standard oxygen molecule to have three atoms instead of just two.

The three-atom molecule is called ozone, not oxygen, and it interacts differently with its environment than the normal air we breathe. Air purifiers that use HEPA filters, UV light, or ionizers are OK. However, inhaling ozone can cause coughing, throat irritation, shortness of breath, and other problems, even in healthy people. Ozone can even cause damage to the lungs, so local weather authorities sometimes issue ozone alerts.

Keep in mind that unless you have someone with an active COVID-19 infection in your household, you won't have any source of coronavirus to reduce or filter with any of these methods. Therefore, you will change the air quality inside your home in other ways. What do you want people to know about air purifiers? Air purifiers are not a magic formula. Therefore, it's important to think of them more as part of your plan than as part of your entire plan.

Let's say I visit him at his house and I still don't know if I have COVID-19. If I sneeze at you just two feet away and neither of you is wearing a mask, then your risk of exposure will definitely increase, even if you have an air purifier nearby. But if you live alone and you're the only one there, the chances of contracting coronavirus from the air in your own home are practically nil. Hospitals have turned to portable air filters as an attractive solution when their isolation facilities are full, but it's important to know if such filters are effective or if they simply provide a false sense of security. The CADR reflects, in cubic feet per minute, the volume of clean air produced by an air purifier at its maximum speed.

Do-It-Yourself (DIY) air filters are indoor air filters that can be assembled from box fans and square HVAC (or oven) filters. The EPA, ASHRAE and CDC recommend upgrading air filters to the highest possible efficiency that is compatible with the system and verifying filter fit to minimize filter air bypass. But even if you live with a healthcare worker or someone sick with COVID-19, before you rush out to buy an air purifier, our experts say that simply opening your home windows to let in fresh air will help dilute indoor pollutants, including virus particles. The best air purifiers can go a long way in removing and removing dangerous germs and bacteria found in the air from the air.

Results suggest air filters could be used to reduce the risk of patients and medical staff contracting SARS-CoV-2 in hospitals. The simulators were placed in a 54m2 (584 square foot) conference room with a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system that provided 0.1 m3 per second of airflow (202 ft3 per minute; two air changes per hour) without air recirculation. The team chose high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, which expel air through a fine mesh that traps extremely small particles. In the general room, the team found SARS-CoV-2 particles in the air when the filter was turned off, but not when it was turned on.

Using an air purifier at home can be a good idea at any time, to help filter indoor allergens and contaminants, such as fumes from kitchen and cleaning products. When Blueair doesn't specialize in cleaning your space of pet hair and dander, the exceptionally quiet performance combined with an intuitive automatic mode of the Blue Pure 311 Auto means you'll barely notice when it's working but the quality of the air around your house will let you know it's doing the job right. HVAC systems in large buildings typically filter air before it is distributed throughout the building so consider upgrading HVAC filters as appropriate for your specific building and HVAC system (consult an HVAC professional). During the tests researchers also discovered that coronavirus could be detected in the air up to three hours after broadcast so it is vital that people clean the air.

No two air purifiers are the same but one of the most important things to look for in the best air purifiers for viruses is the inclusion of a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter. Read on to find out how air purifiers can capture coronavirus how to use an air purifier to help limit the spread of COVID-19 in the home and details on air purifiers from CR tests that might work best in this very specific scenario.

Hannah Sawatzki
Hannah Sawatzki

Hipster-friendly pop culture maven. Hipster-friendly web practitioner. Infuriatingly humble bacon nerd. General social media fan. Hipster-friendly beer enthusiast.