Faulty HVAC duct may have led to Covid-19 outbreak at Pennsylvania elementary

A Covid-19 outbreak in a Pennsylvania elementary school classroom could have been fueled by a faulty air duct,  the Lower Merion school district says.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that eight students in a second-grade classroom at Penn Valley Elementary in Narberth, Pa., have tested positive for the virus in what officials say marked the district’s first instance of significant in-school transmission.

Because of the outbreak, district staff evaluated the classroom’s HVAC system and found that a part within the ductwork above the ceiling “was too far closed, allowing only (approximately) 30% of the maximum amount of fresh air it should have into this specific room,” Terry Quinlan, lead supervisor of school health and student safety for the district, said in an email.

The district “cannot say definitively whether the diminished fresh airflow contributed to the outbreak; however, it could be a factor,” Quinlan said.

The second-grade class members have been quarantined since April 16.

Lower Merion is spacing students at least three feet apart in classrooms. District spokesperson Amy Buckman says she couldn’t comment on whether spacing may have played any role in the outbreak, but noted that distancing was “pretty consistent across all elementary classrooms in the district and this is the only outbreak impacting this number of students that we’ve seen.”