It is actually true that the ground source units installed at Mineral County School District could encourage the spread of viruses and bacteria. One of the multitude of issues with the system is the ventilation. Despite code requiring air exchange with the outdoors, Mineral County School District has a system that only recirculates air.

The reason the units only recirculate air is because they are not designed for the usage they were put into service for. All you have to do is take one good look at the units, and it is apparent that the units are meant for areas like a shop bay that has doors opening and closing all day. This was a decision that was made to save money is my understanding. They are for industrial use, not schools or other commercial usages.

Since the units are only designed for industrial use, they lack proper air filtration. At best, these units only offer dust protection to the internal motor and blower of the unit. They are not designed to trap contaminants. The end result, is if something enters the air, it is merely recirculated over and over to everyone in the vicinity. At some point I will request the data, but I would almost guarantee absenteeism increased when the units went in, particularly in winter months.

Even worse, is the standalone units are incorrectly re-designed to service multiple rooms. The result is if someone sneezes where the machine is, it not only recirculates in that space, but some is also sent flying into an adjacent connected area.

In my case, the lack of the legally required air exchange likely added to the mold poisoning that I still suffer with almost 11 months later. My symptoms have gotten better after getting thousands of dollars in treatment, but I probably wouldn’t have slowly become ill until I reached the point I couldn’t even keep water down if the air system had mitigated Hope Blinco’s mold Emporium that she continues to maintain.