[7thaccount]

I'm a big fan of air filters and have many in my own home that have made a big difference in quality of life as I live in a high pollen area. They can help with a lot more irritants as well that some students may be sensitive to (i.e., some students may study better if their immune system isn't in overdrive for half the school year like mine was). I'm not sure how these would help with natural gas though. I can't read the article due to paywall. Some VOCs can be filtered out (at least I think) with a baking soda filter ...those have to be changed more often than the HEPA filters (at least on my model that has one). Again, that should help with some scents (a major issue for me - even the dishwasher running can cause problems for me), but it isn't going to help if there is a gas leak (not sure if that is what the article is suggesting).

[pizzly]

I'm not sure what it was but I remember learning where with a continuous runny noise in certain classes (buildings) with AC. Outside and different buildings were fine at least for me. In those effected buildings I estimate that 5% were also effected by hearing people sniff every minute or so. This definitely caused distraction while learning. A good filter on the AC would properly have solved this.

[maxerickson]

The article and study are both explicit that natural gas wouldn't have been an issue (the leak was fixed and the gas was gone). The impact from the filters would be from other indoor air pollutants.

[7thaccount]

Thank you!

[LorenPechtel]

The gas was long gone, it wasn't being filtered.

However, I don't see that it proves pollution is the cause. What about infection? Air filtration can reduce the spread of pathogens. Schools throw together a large pool of people, the bug of the day will go around. Less if there are good filters.