About the air purifier study
Article
|Published
We are inviting restaurants, bars and cafés in Oslo and the surrounding area to take part in a study that will investigate whether air purifiers can help to reduce the spread of COVID-19, colds and other respiratory diseases. Can air purifiers help to reduce infection in the air amongst staff at restaurants, bars and cafés? On this page, you will find information about the study.
About the air purifier study
Brief introduction: Do air purifiers have any effect on respiratory infection amongst staff at restaurants, bars and cafés? We want to find out the answer to this question.
Long introduction: We are inviting restaurants, bars and cafés in Oslo and the surrounding area to take part in a study that will investigate whether air purifiers can help to reduce the spread of COVID-19, colds and other respiratory diseases. Can air purifiers help to reduce infection in the air amongst staff at restaurants, bars and cafés? On this page, you will find information about the study.
Aim of the study
Our main aim is to investigate the extent to which air purifiers affect the likelihood of becoming infected with COVID-19 or other viruses and bacteria that cause respiratory infections.
The study is being conducted by the Centre for Epidemic Interventions Research (CEIR) at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health in collaboration with SINTEF. We want to investigate whether air purifiers installed in restaurants, bars and cafés can reduce the spread of respiratory infection amongst the staff.
Study period and completion
In the air purifier study, we are aiming to recruit 1,000 employees, mainly in Oslo, but also elsewhere in the country, in order to conduct a randomised trial. This means that the restaurants, bars and cafés will be randomly divided into two groups. One group will receive air purifiers fitted with HEPA filters, while the other group will not. The study period will last for 14 weeks, starting in winter 2022-2023.
Restaurants, bars and cafés that can participate in the study are those with employees who come into direct contact with guests. The establishments concerned must have enough staff to cover three full-time positions. The staff at the establishments will be asked in advance whether they would like to participate in the study. Participation in this study is voluntary, and we will only collect information from those who give their consent. Participation involves agreeing to answer a questionnaire before and after the study period, as well as answering questions concerning symptoms once a week during the study period. In addition, we ask for permission from the participants to collect data from the general manager on the number of working days and sick leave during the study period.
The study will be discontinued if, during the course of the study, there are changes in national or local recommendations or regulations regarding lockdowns that are contrary to the content of the study.
Participation
A condition for conducting the study is that participation is voluntary, and that employees are not pressured into participating by their employer or anyone else. The invitation to participate in the study will be sent directly by the project group to the employees. In advance of the study, employees will be given the opportunity to opt out of being contacted by us, via the personnel management at their workplace. Each participant is asked to assess whether they can participate.
Dissemination of results
Anonymised results from the study will be published in a scientific journal. The results may be published in a report published by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, as well as on our website.
More information?
There is a lot of information on our website:
- Do you wish to register your restaurant, bar, café or club to take part in the study? See this page for registration.
- Are you employed in the industry? Are you considering becoming, or are you already, a participant in the air purifier study? See this page for information aimed at you in particular.
Do you have any questions that you can't find the answers to here? Please feel free to contact us by e-mail.
