The particular historical moment we are currently experiencing has taught us, just in case we had forgotten, that complex situations can and must be resolved with the help of all the energy and resources available. Following this principle, in June, when it appeared that returning to normality was not only feasible but also attainable, a collaboration was formed between Heratech Company Laboratory (Hera Group) and Arpae on the question of the distribution of the virus in a confined environment (indoors) and on the effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of sanitation systems. The collaboration, based on the sharing of ideas and values, skills and vision, proved to be an enthusiastic one. It was when we were planning to restart, focusing above all on schools and the need to return to face-to-face teaching.
Arpae’s attention was already on the schooling environment and between 2019 and the early months of 2020 (before the lockdown), Arpae had developed a pilot action under the European Interreg Awair project, to monitor the spread of certain pollutants in classrooms and verify the effects of natural air recirculation on their spread and dispersion. Heratech Laboratory had acquired considerable experience on monitoring viral loads at the workplace and the application of strict sanitation protocols.
All the conditions existed therefore to accept a request from the head of the Aldini-Valeriani school district in Bologna who, before schools reopened, wanted to be certain that the sanitation systems and protocols introduced were fully effective and ensured the highest level of protection and prevention./p>
A pilot project was therefore developed whose scope was not only to respond to a specific need, but also to create the conditions for any future actions to support the monitoring of indoor environments, above all those used by more sensitive and vulnerable persons by age or frailty.
Right from the start, it was decided to give more space to monitoring, that was addressed not only the new Coronavirus, but also used to identify other micro-organisms that are often present in living and working environments.
This aspect was moreover a topic that had already been fully discussed by the Heratech and Arpae working group, due to the need to assess the global exposure load to micro-organisms, and obtain a real and realistic overview of the distribution of the microbial load, as a knowledge base that prepared the way for a more complex study of metagenomics.
The pilot study started in September 2020, by testing air samples and surface swabs on different school premises, classrooms, bathrooms, catering areas, collecting specimens before and after sanitation. The results left no doubt: there was no trace of the new Coronavirus, but, as expected, there was a bacterial and fungal load typical of this type of environment which, however, had been drastically reduced by sanitation, carried out with an instrumental prototype that effectively sprayed hydrogen peroxide.
This positive experience demonstrates that even in the most difficult situations there is only one successful strategy, which is a strategy based on a multidisciplinary approach that multiplies knowledge, and on a coordinated action that ensures effective results, and on the willingness of all stakeholders to strive for a single goal, in other words, that of “working as a system”.
Annalisa Colacci (Arpae Emilia-Romagna)
Chiara Lambertini (Manager of the Laboratories of Heratech srl, Hera Group)
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