Erie County, N.Y. (WBEN) - Just in time for back to school, Austin Air Systems has supplied Erie County schools with over 12,500 HEPA air purifiers to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Austin Air Systems, alongside Congressman Brian Higgins and Erie County Health Commissioner, Dr. Gale Burstein announced the fulfillment of the large order supported by American Rescue Plan funding Wednesday at the Charlotte Sidway Elementary School in Grand Island.
Assistant Superintendent of the Grand Island School District, Dr. Rubie Harris said this will greatly help their schools open safely, "260 classrooms in the Grand Island School District have received one of these. We will start off the school year feeling a little safer and a little bit better. Of course, we hope COVID numbers go down, but the air purifiers have really allowed us to open schools in a safe and comfortable environment for teachers, students, staff and for parents."
Lauren McMillian, President of Austin Air Systems, a Buffalo company operating since 1990, says that due to the order from Erie County, other counties are following suit such as Albany County, who has purchased 5,000 units for their public and charter schools.
"We do have a few other counties that are going to be ordering as well. HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) is proven to reduce all kinds of contaminants from the air including COVID-19 and other particulates, chemicals, gases as well and we're really excited to have the students have safer air, safer areas and is associated with better cognition and improved grades," said McMillan.
Use of these HEPA purifiers is all part of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's multi-layer approach to mitigate the spread of all airborne viruses including COVID-19.
School districts received direct allocations of federal COVID relief. Grand Island School District received over $2.6 million through the American Rescue Plan while districts across Erie County received a combined $350 million. These resources are addressing learning gaps and helping to cover other expenses to improve the health and safety of students and teachers.
Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein expressed the benefits of having an air purifier in schools, "As a team, we recognized earlier this year that there was a big opportunity to make key investments to improve school air quality in our school filtration systems that we have with us today and also noted that improved air quality and school environments has other potential health benefits. For example, children and adults with asthma and allergies will feel much better with a filtration system, filtering out all those allergens, pollen and dust and everything else that can make people ill throughout the school year."
McMillian of Austin Air says that there team is continuing to work with other counties such as Niagara, Green, Olean and several other counties throughout New York State to fulfill orders when they come in. Surveys continue to ensue from the counties respective health departments to determine the the amount of purifiers and level of need.
Austin Air also is providing a 15 percent off discount and free shipping to Erie County residents to supply units for home use, the code is ENYFAM22 and the website can be found here.
See the player below to hear the full announcement including responses to COVID-related questions from Dr. Gale Burstein:
