To: The Government of Ireland — the Minister for Education and Youth, the Minister for Health, and the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality.
Protect Our Children: Clean Indoor Air and the Truth About Long COVID
We are asking the Government of Ireland to take urgent action to protect children, families, teachers and the wider public from COVID, Long COVID and other airborne health risks.
Make high-CADR HEPA filtration standard in every classroom, as is happening in London, as an immediate and achievable first step towards excellent indoor air quality, alongside publicly visible CO₂ monitoring, as in Boston, and a properly funded national clean-air programme for schools and all childcare settings and healthcare settings.
Irish people deserve honest, current public-health information about COVID and Long COVID in line with current information from the WHO, CDC, OECD etc. The public should be clearly informed about airborne transmission, the risk of Long COVID in children and adults, the increased risk associated with reinfection, and the evidence concerning COVID's effects on the immune system, the brain, the cardiovascular system and other organ systems.
Government should actively communicate the findings of the HSE FADA report, including the substantially greater burden of Long COVID among women and the evidence concerning reinfection and recovery, and should promote awareness of the HSA Code of Practice for Indoor Air Quality.
We are also asking for COVID vaccine access for everyone who wants protection, including access to Novavax; appropriate access to antivirals; and accurate guidance on antigen testing, including its role in reducing transmission and facilitating timely access to treatment.
Other jurisdictions are already acting on clean indoor air and providing considerably more comprehensive public information about Long COVID. Ireland should not be falling behind.
In December 2021, €62 million was announced for ventilation improvements and HEPA filters in Irish schools. Where are the filters?
A Galway University study found 75% of classrooms spend more than 50% of their time above the 1000ppm limit.
Children have a right to healthy air where they learn and to public-health information that accurately reflects the evidence.
We are asking for clean air, honest information and accountability.
Why is this important?
Children spend a huge proportion of their lives in classrooms. They should not have to breathe poorly ventilated, inadequately filtered air for six hours a day when practical solutions already exist.
COVID has not disappeared. Reinfections continue, and a proportion of children and adults develop Long COVID — sometimes with prolonged or disabling symptoms. WHO Europe and UNICEF continue to warn about Long COVID, including its impact on children, yet public awareness in Ireland remains remarkably low.
Clean indoor air is one of the few interventions that can protect everyone without requiring individual behaviour. Good ventilation and appropriately sized HEPA filtration reduce exposure to airborne infectious particles while also helping to reduce pollutants, allergens and particulate matter.
Other places are already acting. Schools in London, parts of the United States, Canada, Australia and elsewhere have introduced filtration, air-quality monitoring or wider clean-air programmes. Ireland announced €62 million for school ventilation improvements and HEPA filtration in December 2021, yet HEPA filtration is still not standard in Irish classrooms.
This is also about the right to honest public-health information. Parents should be given clear, current information about airborne transmission, Long COVID, women and girls being at greater risk of Long COVID, reinfection and the potential longer-term consequences of infection so that they can make informed decisions for their families. The information vacuum on the reality of Long COVID and the huge burden it puts on the healthcare system is being filled by racist, antivax conspiracy theorists.
Cleaner air will benefit children today and generations of children who have not even started school yet. The infrastructure we put in place now could protect pupils and teachers from COVID, influenza and other airborne infections, while improving the everyday quality of the air they breathe.
We know how to make indoor air cleaner. We know how to reduce airborne transmission. Parents deserve accurate information about the risks. What is missing is the political will to act.
Please join us in asking the Government to make clean air and honest public-health information a basic standard for every child in Ireland.
COVID has not disappeared. Reinfections continue, and a proportion of children and adults develop Long COVID — sometimes with prolonged or disabling symptoms. WHO Europe and UNICEF continue to warn about Long COVID, including its impact on children, yet public awareness in Ireland remains remarkably low.
Clean indoor air is one of the few interventions that can protect everyone without requiring individual behaviour. Good ventilation and appropriately sized HEPA filtration reduce exposure to airborne infectious particles while also helping to reduce pollutants, allergens and particulate matter.
Other places are already acting. Schools in London, parts of the United States, Canada, Australia and elsewhere have introduced filtration, air-quality monitoring or wider clean-air programmes. Ireland announced €62 million for school ventilation improvements and HEPA filtration in December 2021, yet HEPA filtration is still not standard in Irish classrooms.
This is also about the right to honest public-health information. Parents should be given clear, current information about airborne transmission, Long COVID, women and girls being at greater risk of Long COVID, reinfection and the potential longer-term consequences of infection so that they can make informed decisions for their families. The information vacuum on the reality of Long COVID and the huge burden it puts on the healthcare system is being filled by racist, antivax conspiracy theorists.
Cleaner air will benefit children today and generations of children who have not even started school yet. The infrastructure we put in place now could protect pupils and teachers from COVID, influenza and other airborne infections, while improving the everyday quality of the air they breathe.
We know how to make indoor air cleaner. We know how to reduce airborne transmission. Parents deserve accurate information about the risks. What is missing is the political will to act.
Please join us in asking the Government to make clean air and honest public-health information a basic standard for every child in Ireland.