Docs Warning Towards Relying On Air Filters, Purifiers To Assist Cease COVID-19 – CBS San Francisco
(KPIX 5) – Special filters for your stove and air purifiers for selected rooms will certainly help make your home feel more comfortable, but do they also protect you from the novel coronavirus?
Some doctors suggest that COVID-19 could be spread through much smaller particles than the droplets that are caught by some face masks. There are dozens of air purifiers on the market that claim to filter and remove dust, pollen, mold, and even viruses from the air.
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Experts say they are better than none other than retired Air Force colonel, and Stanford infectious disease specialist Dr. Dean Winslow, be careful.
“I would be concerned that just having a few air purifiers in the room in a large, crowded room with lots of people would give a false sense of security,” said Winslow.
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The virus is extremely small and is unlikely to be caught in standard filters. “I think the most important place to have filters is part of a high-efficiency HVAC system,” said Winslow.
Your home heating and cooling system gives you options. There are filters that claim to remove viruses down to 5 microns. That is a tenth of the average diameter of a human hair.
“Filters used for this purpose generally work very well against 5 micron droplets, but some of the viral material can be contained in droplets as small as 1 micron,” said Dr. William Nazaroff, Distinguished Professor of Engineering Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Both doctors agree that the volume of air exchanged is just as important as using the correct filter.