{"id":130343,"date":"2022-12-05T15:52:22","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T20:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=130343"},"modified":"2022-12-06T10:46:39","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T15:46:39","slug":"diy-air-purifiers-create-safe-and-accessible-community-spaces-as-respiratory-illnesses-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/diy-air-purifiers-create-safe-and-accessible-community-spaces-as-respiratory-illnesses-surge\/","title":{"rendered":"DIY air purifiers create ‘safe and accessible’ community spaces as respiratory illnesses surge"},"content":{"rendered":"

As respiratory illnesses surge, some local residents are taking matters into their own hands by building do-it-yourself air purifiers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Known as Corsi-Rosenthal boxes, they require little more than a box fan, some furnace filters and duct tape.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recently, a group of volunteers gathered at Sackville Commons and Co-working to build six of the devices.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes our space very safe,\u201d said Shoshanna Wingate, a local community organizer, author and former poet laureate for the Town of Sackville. She organized the workshop, which was led by Prof. Dave Thomas of Mount Allison University.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt cleans COVID-19 out of the air, as well as allergens [and] other viruses,\u201d Wingate said. <\/span>Sackville Rotary donated money to pay for materials, amount to $700 for six boxes, she said.<\/p>\n

The DIY air filtration system is named after environmental engineer Richard Corsi, who came up with the idea<\/a>, and Jim Rosenthal, the head of a filter manufacturer in Texas, who first built it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Anglican Parishes of Sackville and Dorchester have also built and installed their own Corsi-Rosenthal boxes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Photos on social media show a group of parishioners making eight of the air filter boxes during a workshop organized by Kandice Cann.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The post said the boxes are meant to help people \u201cstay safe in worship\u201d at Saint Paul\u2019s church in Sackville and Saint Anne\u2019s church in Westcock.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week, CHMA reported that fully one-third of students at Marshview Middle School were staying home due to illness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And the principal of Tantramar Regional High recently told parents that about 30 per cent of students were absent daily due to illnesses, with many staff also off sick.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Public Health Agency of Canada has reported high rates of influenza across the country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The most recent Respiratory Virus Report, for the week ending Nov. 26, states that influenza activity \u201cis far above expected levels for this time of year and continues to increase.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Internationally, there have been reports that COVID-19, flu, and the virus known as RSV are together driving a wave of respiratory illnesses. And the<\/span>\u00a0combo has been putting renewed pressure on hospitals, especially pediatric units.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

On Sunday, Wingate spoke to CHMA about the devices, and how respiratory illnesses are affecting families in Sackville:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the author. The byline was updated at approximately 11:45 a.m. Atlantic, on Tuesday, December 6, 2002.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As respiratory illnesses surge, some local residents are taking matters into their own hands by building do-it-yourself air purifiers.\u00a0 Known as Corsi-Rosenthal boxes, they require little more than a box fan, some furnace filters and duct tape.\u00a0 Recently, a group of volunteers gathered at Sackville Commons and Co-working to build six of the devices.\u00a0 \u201cIt…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":130349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57,223],"tags":[284,2995,20748],"radio":[227],"origine":[274,275,277],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130343"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130343"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130460,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130343\/revisions\/130460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130343"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=130343"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=130343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}