HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — A $4.1 million investment in air purifying equipment to help fight COVID-19 is now coming to fruition in the Hays Consolidated Independent School District.

In late September, Hays CISD got approval to use the money to get more than 1,700 units of Novaerus Air Purifiers, which aid in neutralizing viruses like COVID-19 and the flu. They can also help reduce other airborne contaminants, like pollen, which cause allergies.

The district said it got all the materials it needed to start installing the air purifiers last Friday. The equipment is going in every classroom and in “other strategic places at campuses.”

Tobias and Fuentes Elementary Schools, as well as Dahlstrom Middle School, got the first round of purifiers, the district said. They’re among the campuses that were most affected by the delta variant surge. Tobias Elementary even had to close for a couple days last September, because the number of positive cases surpassed the district’s threshold of more than 10% of the campus size.

Hays CISD is asking for $4.1 million to invest in air purifiers to make air cleaner in district facilities. (KXAN Photo/Jala Washington)
Hays CISD is asking for $4.1 million to invest in air purifiers to make air cleaner in district facilities. (KXAN Photo/Jala Washington)

Installation at those three campuses is expected to be done by the end of Wednesday. The district calls this “a priority project,” and installation is scheduled to be done on all campuses within a couple of weeks.

The purifiers use an electrostatic coil that filters air through its top and bottom, killing germs and blowing back out clean air. Money for the project largely comes from emergency COVID-19 federal grant funds.