The Air We Share: How Cleaner Indoor Air Helps Prevent Infectious Disease
By Eva Schaessens
Where people gather indoors, whether in schools, workplaces, transit, or community spaces, respiratory viruses spread more easily. Cleaner indoor air can significantly reduce that risk and help create healthier environments for everyone.
National Care About Your Indoor Air Month highlights the role that clean indoor air plays in reducing illness, especially when combined with other everyday public health measures.
Clean Indoor Air and Layered Prevention
In public health, prevention works best in layers, strategies that work together to lower risk. Ventilation and HEPA air filtration are important layers within that approach. By continuously removing airborne particles from indoor spaces, cleaner air reduces the chance that viruses linger or build up in shared environments.
Cleaner indoor air doesn’t replace measures like staying home when sick, vaccination, or hand hygiene, but it strengthens them. It helps reduce infections, ease pressure on health systems, and keep schools and workplaces functioning during periods of increased illness.
In the video below, Professor Jeff Siegel (Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering) explains how improving indoor air quality can help reduce the spread of respiratory viruses, and why cleaner air is an important layer of protection in shared indoor spaces. A second video features, Assistant Professor Sarah Haines (Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering) who shares practical guidance tailored specifically for schools. She highlights simple, effective steps that classrooms can take to improve air quality.
A Practical Step This Month
Indoor air is something we all share. As part of National Care About Your Indoor Air Month, schools and institutions can take a simple but meaningful step: ensure air filtration systems are turned on and used correctly. That means running filters consistently throughout the day and placing them where they can circulate air effectively. These small operational choices can make a real difference when layered with other protective measures.