Western Ky. early childhood schools get clean air systems

MURRAY, Ky. (KFVS) - Western Kentucky schools are continuing their efforts to fight COVID-19 with air disinfection devices.

Now, in phase 2 of their testing, they are adding these devices to classrooms for kids under the age of 12.

The head start program at Murray State University was one of the first to receive national funding.

They said since the mid-1960s they’ve aimed to keep staff and students safe in a healthy learning environment. Today, they are doing that by implementing air purification systems in all their classrooms.

“We wanted to take every step we could to lessen the opportunity for the contagious illnesses and the symptoms people might feel,” said Program Director Cindy Graves.

Because more children returning to school this fall tested positive for the virus, she wants to do all she can to protect them.

“We find that young children frequently have illnesses. And of course, with the pandemic we have exposures both children and staff, so we explored a number of products and really felt like this was going to give us the results we were hoping for,” she said.

Early Head Start classrooms across five Kentucky counties will have the Noverus clean air system to reduce both illness and absentees.

“So, they’re installed in every classroom, they run 24/7, and they pull the toxins from the environment in those classrooms,” Graves explained.

“Our bottom line is school readiness for all of our kids, but health is one of the biggest impacts on school readiness,” said Health Services Coordinator Whitney Pile.

She believes that’s why clean air throughout the classrooms is so important.

“We’re seeing lots of some of your airborne illnesses particularly RSV. Had a light flu season that occurred some during the actual summer. And I think a lot of that was largely due to COVID,” she said.

And with systems in place, she said she looks forward to more staff and children with fewer illnesses.

“For our staff and our kids if they were experiencing anything when they came into the classrooms I would hope that those symptoms would dissipate and they would feel better,” she said.

Phase three of the Western Kentucky School System’s program is to implement clean air systems in every classroom within its surrounding counties.

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