At a time schools are being almost emptied by Omicron, most are still waiting to get one of the 5000 air purifiers the Ministry of Health ordered in December.
The Ministry of Education says its rollout is on track but one industry figure - whose firm was snubbed during the tender - says his company could have supplied 2000 purifiers last month and the balance soon after. He also says the ministry should have ordered one per classroom - around 35,000 air purifiers - rather than 5000 in total.
So far, around 300 air purifiers have been distributed to 150 schools, a Ministry of Education spokesperson says.
Most of New Zealand's 2500 state primary and secondary schools are grappling with widespread Omicron outbreaks that have forced more than 200,000 children to stay home from school every day this month.
In a written response to Green MP Chloe Swarbrick on February 5, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said he approved the MoE's "school ventilation approach" on November 21. The MoE ordered the 5000 air purifiers on Christmas Eve.
The first 500 purifiers would arrive this month, the MoE said in February. The remaining 4500 were scheduled to arrive by June.
The first 500 air purifiers, from Samsung, were delivered in February, even if 200 had yet to arrive in schools.
"So far, we have distributed nearly 300 portable air cleaners to around 150 schools and we will be sending more out in the coming days," the MoE spokesperson said.
"We are expecting the remainder of the 5000 ordered to arrive and be distributed to schools in April and May."
The first 150 units had been delivered "either as a temporary solution while longer-term property interventions are under way or as the first part of our general distribution to all state and state-integrated schools," the spokesperson said.
"All schools [will] have at least one portable air cleaner available to them by May. Larger schools will receive more, and a further procurement is under way to identify further suppliers of portable air cleaners to enable us to quickly respond to the needs of schools as required as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to evolve."
Should the Ministry of Education have shot for 35,000 air purifiers, or one for every classroom, with its December tender?
The counterargument is that most classrooms have a free solution on-hand for removing the molecules that carry Covid: open the windows.
MoE tender documents sighted by the Herald said the standard of ventilation in any classroom depended on the building code at the time it was built but "our initial estimate is that up to 80 per cent of our teaching spaces are able to meet the WHO [World Health Organisation] and CDC [US Centres for Disease Control] recommendations for naturally ventilated spaces".
Good ventilation management could turn a further 10 per cent of classrooms into low-risk spaces, meaning only around 1 in 10 classrooms required an air purifier so would all be covered by the order for 5000 air purifiers.
But Paul Wiggans, managing director of Auckland Blue - which distributes the ActivePure brand of air purifiers - says the tender parameters did not allow for the fact that the days of boiler-powered water heaters are long gone. Most schools now use heat pumps. And that means keeping windows closed on hot or cold days - hence his call for an air purifier in every classroom.
The Herald put this point to the MoE, which responded: "We know most spaces within New Zealand schools are naturally well ventilated, and will be able continue being well-ventilated by following guidance.
"Our classroom ventilation study with Niwa, feedback from schools using our ventilation assessment toolkit, and overseas experiences have confirmed this.
"As well as ensuring our approach is informed by our own local studies, our advisory group is keeping us informed of overseas research and we are in regular contact with overseas counterparts to understand their approach to ventilation in schools."
Despite discussions with the MoE, Wiggans said Big Blue was not invited to participate in the tender, which was done on a truncated emergency basis.
He could not understand the juxtaposition of the tender being on emergency terms - which allowed a ministry to skirt a number of usual MBIE provisions, including canvassing local alternatives - while the ministry was willing to accept a relatively relaxed six-month delivery window.
Wiggans said his company could have supplied 2000 last month, and the balance by April.
He was also surprised to be sidelined because his company has a track record with
several DHBs and Southern Cross Hospitals. The Herald understands its units are used in several MIQ facilities.
ActivePure's kit can cost the thick end of $5000, which would add up to more than $100m to put one in every classroom.
But Wiggans said that sum has to be seen in the context of the cost of the overall Covid response. Treasury, for example, estimated the cost of the Delta lockdown at $8 billion.
Wiggans notes that the Australian state of Victoria ordered 51,000 air purifiers in a A$190m - A$3700 each ($4010) - package to keep students safe from Covid-19. New South Wales ordered 19,000.
MoE associate deputy secretary of property delivery Sam Fowler said the ministry had ordered 1000 Samsung Air Purifier AX90T7080WD/SA units, which retail for around $999, and 4000 Air Purifier AX60T5080WD/SA units, which retail for around $799.
The MoE presumably got a bulk discount, but has refused to put a dollar value on the deal.
Samsung also makes larger, more powerful models. But Fowler said the MoE received advice from an expert panel that it should set a performance requirement for a clean air delivery rate (CADR) of at least 400 square metres per hour. The smaller Samsung units are rated at 467sq m per hour and the larger ones at 701sq m per hour.
Wiggans said more powerful models would turn over the air in a classroom more times an hour, reducing risk. The ActivePure models distributed by his companies, he said, create oxidising molecules to proactively remove pathogens.
"We all know that Omicron is a highly transmissible variant and with the vaccine roll-out for our 5- to–12-year-olds only starting, we feel the ministry should be taking the strongest possible measures to keep our kids and teachers safe," he says.
Questions have also been raised about the capability of hepa (high efficiency particulate air) filters - used by the Samsung and ActivePure models - to grapple with Covid.
A hardware review team from the New York Times found that air purifiers with hepa filtration efficiently capture particles the size of - and far smaller than - the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19.
"Many media outlets have incorrectly stated that hepa filters don't filter below 0.3 micron and therefore could not capture airborne coronaviruses. That's wrong," the paper said, referencing a Nasa study.
"The Samsung air cleaners we have ordered have a true hepa filter that removes up to 99.97 per cent of 0.3 micron, ultra-fine particles," Fowler told the Herald.
What was the 5000 air purifier contract worth?
The Government is not saying.
Swarbrick asked why information pertaining to the tender was redacted from the Education Report: School ventilation approach under Covid-19.
Hipkins replied, "Releasing this would prejudice the Ministry of Education's ability to gain best value for money."
A parallel tender for 2500 carbon dioxide monitors snubbed local manufacturer Tether, despite it winning an earlier $7m Kāinga Ora tender. The MoE's Fowler said the ministry went with a portable Latvian solution. Tether said its units were portable as well as having a companion app and other smarts that the Eastern European units lacked.
CO2 buildup is an indicator of poor ventilation, which hightens the risk of Covid transmission.
The Latvian monitors were delivered in December but in February, Tether chief executive Brandon van Blerk said he was disappointed his company did not even get to pitch.
This month, van Blerk had some brighter news. While still sidelined form state schools, his company has now installed several hundred CO2 monitors in private schools under a partnership deal with ISNZ (Independent Schools of NZ).