The Heidwiller school in Haut-Rhin is experimenting with a machine that measures the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air in its classrooms.

Objective: to know when it is time to ventilate to limit the spread of the coronavirus.  

REPORTAGE

The instruction is frequently repeated: to fight against the spread of Covid-19, windows must be opened at regular intervals, so as not to remain in confined air.

But every how long, exactly?

To find out, the school in Heidwiller, a village in Haut-Rhin, is experimenting with a small machine measuring the concentration of CO2 in the air.

In CE2-CM1-CM2 classes, students now benefit from an objective indicator that encourages them to ventilate. 

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Protocol measures "were not enough"

"I have to watch," explains Lisandra, whose office hosts the sensor for the day, next to three glitter bags.

It's a small machine, with numbers on the screen.

"We are at 891 and if it goes to more than 1,000, we have to open a window," said the schoolgirl. 

"This device allowed us to realize that the threshold was very, very quickly reached", assures the teacher of the class, Oriane Stihlé.

"And that the measures that our sanitary protocol required of us, namely to ventilate every two hours, were not enough.", Since the sensor is in place, the class constantly keeps a window open, "so that 'there is still a correct level ".

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A threshold reached in a small classroom

"When we breathe, we emit CO2 and aerosols, so the more CO2 there is, the more risk there is of the virus in the air," says the municipal education assistant, Véronique Gebel .

"And there, we are in a room with less than 20 students, which is relatively spacious. We imagine in a high school, with 30 students, the CO2 content which must explode after this experiment ..."

Faced with the success of the experiment, the community of communes now intends to equip the 160 classes of schools in the surrounding villages.