Opinion: Smog alerts give new urgency to classroom air quality

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Opinion

Wildfires will only get worse with climate change and are one of many reasons why Quebec should invest in healthier school environments.

Published Jun 19, 2023 • 3 minute read

Smog casts a pall over downtown Montreal buildings as seen from Mount Royal on June 5, 2023. — Smog from faraway forest fires cast a pall over downtown Montreal as seen from Mount Royal on June 5, 2023. Children are especially vulnerable to the health impacts of wildfire smoke, note Jill Baumgartner and Scott Weichenthal. Photo by Pierre Obendrauf /Montreal Gazette

Hundreds of wildfires across Quebec and other parts of Canada have been contributing to severe smog warnings that are rare but increasingly common in Canadian cities. Children are especially vulnerable to the health impacts of wildfire smoke because they spend more time outdoors, breathe more air relative to their body weight, and are still growing and developing.

While air quality across Canada reached “high risk” and “very high risk” categories, schools were scrambling to protect students from the adverse health effects of the smoke. Some schools in Ontario and Quebec, for example, cancelled or reduced outdoor activities while other schools kept students indoors to try and minimize their exposures.

The unfortunate reality is most classrooms in Quebec provide students with limited protection from wildfire smoke. Creating cleaner indoor air spaces are the most effective intervention to reduce exposures to wildfire smoke, but school infrastructure across the province is often old and lacks the active air filtration and ventilation systems that are necessary for having clean indoor air.

A major investment in proven technologies that can improve indoor air quality in Quebec schools is long overdue. The provincial government plans to build and renovate hundreds of schools across the province, and indoor air quality should be core to these upgrades.

When possible, central ventilation systems should be fitted with high-efficiency particle (HEPA) filters that have a minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) rating of 13 or higher. In schools without central ventilation, better air quality in individual classrooms can be achieved through portable HEPA filtration devices. These devices are easy to install and operate, and are relatively low cost (around $1,200 per unit).

The filters in both centralized systems and portable units must be periodically replaced to work properly, but schools are well-positioned to keep the required maintenance schedule. Indeed, it is well-established that high-efficiency filters and improved ventilation can reduce the levels of indoor smoke particles.

The benefits of improving classroom air quality extend beyond wildfires. During the height of the pandemic, we wrote about the importance of improving air quality in Quebec classrooms to prevent transmission of COVID, flu and common cold viruses.

Air filtration and mechanical ventilation can clean the air of pollen, mould spores and pollution from traffic and industry, and increase the amount of filtered fresh air in classrooms. For students and teachers, especially those with asthma and other health conditions, this can mean fewer missed days of school and fewer asthma attacks and resulting trips to the hospital.

A further bonus is that air filtration and cooling has been shown to improve student learning and test performance.

Wildfires will only worsen with climate change, making actions that actively remove pollutants from the air even more urgent. Drier forests and hotter summers all contribute to longer and more intense fire seasons that extend farther into the school year, putting children and teachers at even greater risk. Had we invested in school indoor air quality during the pandemic, we would currently be reaping the dividends through reduced school exposures to wildfire smoke.

For all these reasons, the continued lack of investment in classroom air quality across Quebec is perplexing and overlooks a potential opportunity to create healthier school environments. Across the province, we need to evaluate school buildings for their air quality and prioritize funding to upgrade air handling systems and improve indoor air quality.

Working proactively to make schools safer and healthier for children and teachers, especially during poor air quality episodes caused by wildfires, simply makes good public health sense.

Jill Baumgartner and Scott Weichenthal are associate professors of environmental epidemiology in the School of Population and Global Health at McGill University.

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