Molloy College installs high-tech air purifiers to fight virus

Molloy College’s academic and residence buildings are becoming safer with the installation of advanced technology air purifiers, which help limit the spread of Covid-19.

Siemens Smart Infrastructure is in the process of securing its O2Prime NPBI indoor, ozone-free air purification devices on HVAC systems across campus. Molloy paid for the $1 million project through federal CARES Act funding that the Town of Hempstead distributed in a grant to the Rockville Centre college this summer.

“It’s important for our staff, students and the whole community that we have a safe environment for the in-person interactions that we’d like to have,” said Molloy President Dr. Jim Lentini. “We think it’s really important to get us back on campus.”

College officials said the air purifiers will add another layer of protection against Covid-19. The small units are black boxes, roughly the size of a cell phone, that attach inside air vents and work constantly while the vents are turned on. Molloy is the first college on Long Island to implement this technology, which floods the air with ions and greatly reduces viruses and bacteria.

Since reopening to resident students and resuming 25 percent of courses in person in August, there have been few Covid-19 cases on campus, Lentini said. With the new air purification system adding to existing safety measures, Lentini hopes to hold 35 percent of Molloy’s courses in person next semester and gradually build from there.

The college has temperature kiosks that digitally read staff and students’ faces and take their temperature before they enter each building. Molloy also has strict face mask wearing and social distancing rules in place, as well as health screening protocols and limited in-person social activities.

On Oct. 27, college officials and Siemen representatives gathered in Bogner Hall to see electricians install one of the air purifying units in an air vent. More than 100 have been installed so far, and when the project is complete, there will be 500 throughout campus, including in every dorm room.

“It’s absolutely making us feel safer,” said Bailey Rosen, a Molloy student and resident assistant at Bogner Hall. “The college is taking so many precautions, and this is just another addition and emphasis on the safety of resident students.”

David Turner, regional manager of Siemens Industry, Inc., explained that the technology, while contained in a small device, can have large impacts. The unit releases positive and negative ions into the air that attach to the Covid-19 virus, strip it of proteins and cause it to fall from the airstream so people cannot breathe them in.

Turner also noted that the technology has been used for many years now and is not specific to Covid-19. It helps to kill all bacteria, like mold or common cold germs, as well.

“[Molloy College] is definitely a leader in this,” Cameron said, “and we as a company are a leader in creating buildings that are smarter, more efficient and really in this day and age, safer, so those students can come back with confidence and use the facilities knowing they have a continuous system that is protecting them all day, all night, as they work and sleep in this dormitory.”

Cameron Engineering, a buildings design engineer firm, has also installed the units in its offices for the safety of its workers.

“I salute Molloy College for taking the proactive step of treating interior air to minimize the potential of disease transmission,” John Cameron, a Rockville Centre resident and managing partner of Cameron Engineering, said in a statement.

Lentini commended Janine Biscari, vice president of student affairs and head of the college’s Coronavirus Task Force, and James Multari, the college’s director of facilities, for helping organize the project.

“In addition to temperature kiosks in all our buildings and strict masking and hand sanitizing protocols for everyone,” Lentini wrote in a statement, “this system goes above and beyond in keeping everyone as healthy as possible.”