Toronto library may launch CO2 lending program in mid-July
Toronto residents may soon be able to rent out a carbon dioxide (CO2) monitor at the public library as part of the city’s pandemic response.
In April, the City of Peterborough became the first municipality in North America to facilitate such a program—lending out CO2 monitors to residents for a week at a time so they could determine the quality of air ventilation within their home, office, or other indoor spaces.
The devices use a “stoplight system,” officials said at the time. A green light means the air quality in the space is good, yellow means it is okay, and red means there is little ventilation in the area.
The higher the CO2 levels within the space, the more recycled air an individual will be inhaling.
“Good ventilation and filtration are important because it helps decrease the risk of illness by reducing the levels of aerosols containing viruses and bacteria, and other air quality concerns, that can make us sick, including the virus causing COVID-19,” Dr. Thomas Piggott, Peterborough’s medical officer of health, said in a statement issued in April.
Piggott added that it’s relatively easy to lower levels of CO2 if residents get a high result. Actions such as opening windows, reducing the number of people in a room and using air filtration devices will all help with increasing air ventilation. Mask wearing will also help remove potential pollutants in the air.
Around the same time that Peterborough’s program launched, some residents reached out to the Toronto Public Library inquiring if they had plans to do something similar. At the time, officials said on social media that they were contacted by organizations interested in donating CO2 monitors and that updates would come at a later date.
Months later, it appears as though a formal program may be underway.
In a tweet posted on July 2, the library said they plan on introducing a CO2 monitor program in mid-July and more information is expected “in the coming weeks.”
CTV News Toronto has reached out to the library for further details.
CO2 monitors have been widely used throughout the pandemic, although not consistently. In 2021, Quebec’s education minister said that monitors would be installed in every classroom.
Yet, when an Ontario Public Health Unit tried to enforce a policy in which any classroom with a CO2 reading of more than 800 parts per million receive an additional HEPA air filter, the province’s chief medical officer of health said experts were “not aware at present of any correlation between CO2 levels and viral transmission.”
The use of CO2 monitoring has been widely proven in scientific journals as a tool to measure risk of COVID-19 infection.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.
Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned by N.Y. appeals court
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.