Quebec adds 1000 air exchangers in schools

A measure that should have been taken a long time ago, according to unions

Vincent Brousseau-Pouliot
The Press

Two weeks after the start of the school year, the Government of Quebec is adding 1,000 air exchangers for schools to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 in schools. The unions doubt that this is enough.

Since last April, Quebec has distributed 499 air exchangers in some 52,000 classes without mechanical ventilation¹ ; 72 air exchangers are also being delivered to schools. In order to meet demand over the next few weeks, the government has just ordered another 1,000 air exchangers, bringing the total to 1,500. It has already received part of its new order.

There is “no delivery capacity issue” for air exchangers, according to Caroline Imbeau, assistant deputy minister for infrastructure at the Ministry of Education. Quebec specifies that it has not refused any request from a school service center or a private school. They are the ones who can request an air exchanger in Quebec, if there is a concentration of more than 1500 ppm of CO₂ in a classroom (average during the school day) even when opening the windows. Quebec then analyzes each request.

Unions see the situation differently. They believe that there is a “dichotomy” between the situation on the ground and the government discourse.

According to the directives of the Ministry of Education, we first try to find other solutions before ordering an air exchanger. In particular to open the windows of the class more in order to reduce the rate of CO₂ below 1500 ppm – the “limit” threshold, according to Quebec.

“The air exchanger is not a wall-to-wall solution,” says Caroline Imbeau. It is recommended to ventilate the class [en premier]. We analyze the situation [avec le centre de services scolaire]. If the institution maintains its position [qu’il veut un échangeur d’air], we send him one. »

“Opaque” analysis process

The unions – who recognize that it is up to the management of the establishment to make the decision – denounce the “opaque” analysis process.

“The teacher says there is [un problème], but does it make it to the service center? We ask to know the results [de CO₂] in real time so that we are able to monitor the situation much more closely,” says Éric Gingras, president of the Centrale des unions du Québec (CSQ), which represents 125,000 teachers and education employees. “We keep seeing pictures [de lecteurs de CO₂] with thresholds at 3000-4000 ppm”, worries Sylvain Mallette, of the FAE.

The two unions believe that the air exchangers should have been installed a long time ago, especially last summer.

CO readers₂

According to Quebec, almost all (about 98%) of classrooms without mechanical ventilation – the most problematic type of classroom in terms of air quality – now have a CO reader.₂ functional and calibrated.

As of January 31, 51,758 of the 90,000 classes in Quebec had a CO reader.₂ functional, which makes it possible to check the quality of the air. There would be approximately 52,000 classes (1,870 schools out of 3,227) without mechanical ventilation¹.

By the end of February there will be a CO drive₂ in each of the 90,000 classrooms, even those with a mechanical ventilation system.

Air purifiers

In Ontario, there is one air purifier in all classrooms without mechanical ventilation (70,000 purifiers). Quebec did not follow this approach. Quebec Public Health reiterated on Tuesday that an air purifier does not offer “added value […] when there is adequate ventilation” in a classroom. “Opening the windows intermittently allows air exchange and adequate ventilation in the vast majority of cases,” says Public Health.

In practice, there are at least a thousand air purifiers in the classrooms of Quebec, mainly in English school boards (1480 purifiers for the three school boards of Montreal and Laval) and private schools. Some private schools have also installed air exchangers at their own expense without waiting for Quebec.

In the public network, the Center de services scolaire de Montréal has installed 20 air purifiers. A school service center in Montérégie installed six in rooms where the windows did not open, while waiting for six air exchangers ordered in Quebec.

1. This is an estimate based on the fact that 58% of schools in Quebec do not have mechanical ventilation. Quebec does not know the precise number of classes without mechanical ventilation.