Timișoara Municipality, as a partner in the "Smart and Sustainable Energy Consumption" project, acronym SASEC, eMS no. RORS-300, financed through the Interreg IPA Program for Romania-Serbia Cross-Border Cooperation, carried out two air sampling campaigns in January and February 2020. Air samples from six schools in Timisoara and Zrenjanin (Serbia) were taken in order to investigate the air quality through specialized laboratory services. The pilot schools included in the project were: "Constantin Diaconovici Loga" National College, Banat National College and "Grigore Moisil" Theoretical High School from Timisoara and The Elementary School, "Jovan Trajković" Economic School and Zrenjanin Technical School respectively.
Air samples were collected from 3 classrooms in each of the schools and two distinct locations in each classroom respectively. The samples were collected using the MAS - 100 Eco Microbiological Air Sampler - MERCK equipment, and a number of five different culture plates. The collected samples were incubated and analyzed in the laboratory of the "Pius Brînzeu" County Clinical Emergency Hospital in Timisoara - the provider of laboratory analysis services, and the results were interpreted by their laboratory experts.
According to the partial evaluation reports for campaigns 1 and 2, the bacterial and fungal load in the air falls within the allowable limits for all rooms that were tested in all of the six schools. For the three schools in Timisoara, the lower bacterial load in the second campaign compared to the first campaign can be explained by the measures applied in the current epidemiological context (risk of respiratory viruses): restricting access to courses for students with respiratory symptoms of any kind (bacterial or viral), more frequent ventilation of the classrooms, systematic disinfection of surfaces, along with more rigorous hand hygiene. It should be noted that no bacterial species of clinical significance for the upper respiratory tract (beta-hemolytic streptococci, Staphylococcus Aureus) have been identified.
As for the pilot schools investigated in Zrenjanin, the small number of microorganisms isolated in campaign 2 is certainly related to the fact that school was suspended on the day the sampling took place. Regarding fungi, similar species were identified in both campaigns. Fungi tend to remain in rooms regardless of the presence of human beings as their development is dependent on environmental factors.
In the current context and taking into account the measures taken to reduce the risk of the spread of respiratory infections caused by the COVID-19, including the fact that school was canceled for the next period, the next air quality assessment campaigns will only be carried out after classes are resumed, most likely during April 2020.
