LAUSR.org creates dashboard-style pages of related content for over 1.5 million academic articles. Sign Up to like articles & get recommendations!

Decreased Respiratory-Related Absenteeism among Preschool Students after Installation of Upper Room Germicidal Ultraviolet Light: Analysis of Newly Discovered Historical Data

Photo from wikipedia

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought renewed urgency to air disinfection. Upper room germicidal ultraviolet light (GUV) disinfects room air very efficiently. Its effect on practical outcomes in public settings remains… Click to show full abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought renewed urgency to air disinfection. Upper room germicidal ultraviolet light (GUV) disinfects room air very efficiently. Its effect on practical outcomes in public settings remains unclear, but history may provide some insights. An interrupted time series model was fitted to a newly discovered dataset of attendance records from a preschool between 1941 to 1949, where GUV was installed in December 1945. GUV was associated with a sizable reduction in child absenteeism due to respiratory illnesses of any cause. Odds ratios for the effect ranged from 0.5 to 0.77, depending on the season. In all but high summer, model-predicted absenteeism rates were reduced by between a third and a half by GUV. Wider use of upper room germicidal UV systems in schools and preschools may be worthwhile, to reduce absenteeism due to respiratory illness and the educational, social, and economic consequences that ensue.

Keywords: room germicidal; germicidal ultraviolet; upper room; absenteeism; room; respiratory

Journal Title: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Year Published: 2023

Link to full text (if available)


Share on Social Media:                               Sign Up to like & get
recommendations!

Related content

More Information              News              Social Media              Video              Recommended



                Click one of the above tabs to view related content.