Key takeaways:
Health experts recommend using air purifiers for illness prevention during cold and flu season because viruses like influenza and SARS-CoV-2 are carried in respiratory aerosols in the air.
Health experts advise operating your air purifier at a continuous, low speed to minimize the risk of illness. If someone is actively sick, prioritize high fan speed to rapidly remove aerosols.
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Other important factors for illness prevention are an air purifier with a true HEPA filter and strategic placement of the unit in your home.
It's that time of year when the start of a cough, a runny nose or feeling exhausted can have you reaching for vitamin C supplements or warm beverages. While these are classic defenses to have in your cold and flu season arsenal, are there any health tech devices we should also be turning on to prevent illness?
As someone who has been writing about health and wellness for over a decade, I've always wondered if air purifiers are a viable preventative measure for the sickness season. Now, with CNET's exclusive data, I have my answer: Yes, an air purifier should be in your modern medicine cabinet. Health experts agree.
Pediatric allergist and clinical immunologist Dr. Zachary Rubin tells CNET that viruses like influenza and SARS-CoV-2, a member of the coronavirus family, are carried in respiratory aerosols, which are particles that get exhaled while you’re breathing, coughing, talking or sneezing. These are usually under 5 μm (microns) in size, but many can be smaller than 1 μm, and your air purifier should be able to remove them.
Primary care and urgent care physician Dr. Steven Goldberg, the chief medical officer at molecular testing laboratory HealthTrackRX, notes that an air purifier capable of removing 0.3 μm particles is a vital benchmark for viral aerosol removal, especially since manufacturers often rate purifier filters by their efficiency in removing particles of this size.
To put this to the test, CNET Labs placed 12 popular air purifiers in a smoke chamber to measure their ability to filter five different particle sizes, both fine and coarse, from the air. Two models emerged as top performers for their speedy results, making them must-have devices for cold and flu season.
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