DESPERATE MEASURES

Parents Sneaking CO2 Monitors Into Schools to Check Ventilation

Parents across the U.S. have been slipping carbon dioxide monitors into their kids school bags to make sure poor ventilation won’t lead to COVID outbreaks.

In what some might see as extreme paranoia and others as COVID-era pragmatism, some U.S. parents are sending their kids to school with carbon dioxide monitors to ensure proper ventilation, according to The New York Times. Some of the people interviewed by the Times said that many classrooms show low levels of CO2, which means proper ventilation could keep kids safe from COVID, while high traffic areas like lunch rooms fare far worse. The move to patrol CO2 levels in schools even has its own hashtag #CovidCO2 where parents can share tips on how to check up on whether schools are following the rules. The Centers for Disease Controls recommends that indoor CO2 levels stay below 800 p.p.m.