Clean Air
Intro - change?
Clean air is as essential as clean water. Yet many classrooms across the UK still have poor ventilation and high levels of airborne particles, conditions that allow COVID-19 and other viruses to spread quickly.
Improving indoor air quality through ventilation, filtration, and monitoring reduces illness, keeps children and staff in school, and supports learning, wellbeing, and long-term health.
Every child deserves to breathe safe air at school. Clean air protects against infection today and helps prevent Long Covid and other long term health conditions, in the future.
Clean Air is Basic Public Health
Every child deserves to learn in a classroom with safe air to breathe.
Healthier Families & Communities
When schools cut sickness, families stay healthier too.
That eases pressure on the NHS and supports the wider economy.
A Better Learning Experience
With fewer staff absences, pupils learn from their own teachers - not a stream of supply cover.
Continuity strengthens relationships and the quality of education.
Saving Money
Fewer sick teachers means less money spent on supply staff.
That frees up resources for enrichment, support and classrooms.
Improved Performance
Cleaner air = clearer minds.
Better air quality supports attention, learning, and exam results.
Reduced Sickness Absence
Clean air in classrooms means fewer infections.
Children and staff stay healthier, absence drops, and schools can meet attendance targets.
Clean Air
We wouldn't let our children drink dirty water.
Why are we letting them breathe dirty air?
Reducing Risks. Preventing Long Covid
As highlighted in a 2024 review, Long Covid “represents a major public health crisis — it strains health systems and national economies, and threatens progress on global health.”
Repeated Covid infections can worsen existing Long Covid, and each new infection may also increase vulnerability to other viral, bacterial, or even fungal infections.
The only sure way to prevent Long Covid is to avoid getting infected with COVID-19 in the first place. While no single measure can eliminate risk entirely, each layer of protection helps, and combining them is most effective.
Clean air through ventilation and filtration, staying home when unwell, vaccination, and other sensible precautions all work together to reduce the spread of infection and lower the risk of Long Covid in children and young people.
Layered mitigations include:
Good indoor air quality helps reduce the spread of airborne viruses and other pathogens. Simple measures like HEPA filtration and good ventilation can make classrooms and homes safer for everyone.
Improving air quality is affordable, effective, and proven to make a difference. Even before the pandemic, the health impact of indoor air was recognised. A 2020 report by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, The Inside Story, highlighted that:
“Children in the UK spend more and more of their lives indoors, and the health impact of the air within our homes and schools must be taken seriously.”
In schools, HEPA filters are already making a measurable difference. The CLASS-ACT study found a 48% reduction in airborne particulate matter in classrooms that used HEPA or other air cleaning technologies. This improves health, supports attendance, and benefits learning, especially for children with health vulnerabilities.
These are not complex or costly devices, they are simply fans with HEPA and carbon filters. Studies show running these filters costs just 1–2% of a school’s heating bill.
Read our Clean Air Blog and download our template letter to advocate for air filtration in schools.
Further Reading:
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Clean Air For Kids
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Testing is still an important tool for guiding care and helping to reduce transmission.
If a child is unwell, a test can provide clarity about the cause of illness and support decisions about rest, staying home to protect others, or seeking medical advice.
Current UK guidance does not require children with Covid symptoms to isolate and, in many cases, still encourages school attendance.
At Long Covid Kids, we recognise the serious potential impact of Covid on children. We support rest and staying at home while a child is unwell, both to protect others from infection and to give the child the best chance to recover.
High-quality, well-fitting FFP2 and FFP3 masks are proven to filter viral particles, offering protection both for the wearer and for those around them.
Long Covid Kids recommends using masks in crowded or poorly ventilated spaces, where the risk of transmission is higher.
We strongly recommend wearing masks in hospitals and healthcare settings to reduce risk, protect vulnerable patients, staff, and families.
Vaccines do not remove the risk of Long Covid, but current evidence shows they are linked to:
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Reduced severity of illness
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Lower likelihood of developing Long Covid symptoms
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Fewer hospitalisations from serious Covid-related complications
A study of 5.1 million UK children found a favourable safety profile for under-18s. It showed that the risk of hospitalisation from serious Covid outcomes was significantly higher in unvaccinated children — and absent in those with at least one vaccine dose.
It is also important to acknowledge that, in rare cases, Long Covid symptoms may develop after vaccination rather than infection. Long Covid Kids recognises and supports all affected families.
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Ongoing Prevention Advocacy
Long Covid Kids continues to lobby for stronger public health messaging and practical measures to reduce transmission, including:
A nationwide public awareness campaign on the associated risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The provision and use of high-quality masks, particularly during periods of high transmission.
