Almost 70 per cent of carbon dioxide readers delivered to Quebec schools

With the in-person start of the school year just days away, the Quebec government says it has already delivered 68 percent of the 90,000 carbon dioxide (CO2) readers it promised to install in each classroom of every school by the end of December 2021.

As of Friday, the readers intended for priority classes -- those with recordings exceededing 1500 ppm -- have been delivered, according to the Ministry of Education.

"This is an ambitious, large-scale operation involving 3,600 buildings," said Education Ministry assistant deputy minister Caroline Imbeau, during a technical briefing about air quality in schools.

"The ministry has a stockpile of air exchangers and to date, nearly 400 have been installed in learning spaces. There are about 100 units in the stockpile and we will be receiving more soon and they are ready to be sent to school organizations that request them," said Imbeau.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 14, 2022.