Boeing tested air purifiers like those widely used in schools but decided not to use them in planes
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A view of a Boeing 767 cabin. Boeing tested ionizers for its commercial planes but found they were not effective enough to install. (Ivan Ekushenko, Dreamstime/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) Aerospace giant Boeing tested two kinds of ionization technologies like those widely adopted in schools hoping to combat COVID to determine how well each killed germs on surfaces and decided that neither was effective enough to install on its commercial planes.
Boeing noted in its conclusion that “air ionization has not shown significant disinfection effectiveness.”
Berkeley, San Francisco school districts announce full return for fall
Ryan Kendrick/Staff
Both San Francisco Unified School District and Berkeley Unified School District are planning for all students to attend school five days a week with normal hours starting in the fall. Instruction will be in person, but a remote option will be available for those families that do not feel comfortable with in-person instruction.
San Francisco Unified School District, or SFUSD, announced Tuesday that it is planning for all students to return to full, in-person instruction Aug. 16. Additionally, in March, Berkeley Unified School District, or BUSD, announced a full return to in-person learning for the upcoming school year.
Since the closing of Berkeley public schools more than a year and a half ago, parents of middle and high school students have organized to reopen classrooms and in-person instruction.
Berkeley Parents for Full Reopening, or BPFR, is a group of more than 40 families who are now pursuing legal action against Berkeley Unified School District, or BUSD.
“These parent efforts seek to return students to full-time, in-person instruction and address the significant learning loss and deterioration in the mental health among children and teens that school closures have created,” a BPFR press release reads.
Despite the push by local health officials to reopen all public schools, BUSD has only reopened classrooms for those in elementary schools, creating an “unequal situation” for middle and high school students, according to the press release.