COLOMBIA – Employees and visitors to the South Carolina capitol complex are expected to breathe cleaner soon after the installation of ionizing air devices designed to contain the spread of viruses such as COVID-19.
A legislative committee approved on March 17 the installation of air purification systems in the six buildings of the Statehouse, as well as in the Supreme Court across the street and in its parking lots.
The devices are likely to be installed in more state buildings in future stages, although how many and at what cost are not yet known.
“Is this where we’re going? Are we going to have to ionize all the state buildings, all the schools? Where will this end?” asked Senate President Harvey Peeler, a member of the Joint Bond Review Committee who had to approve spending.
“What is good for the goose is good for the goose,” said the Republican from Gaffney.
The $ 313,000 project for the capitol complex is due to be completed next month, according to the state Department of Administration, which oversees property maintenance.
The devices meet federal recommendations for cleaning and filtering the air, eliminating not only the airborne transmission of viruses, but also mold in decades-old buildings. The oldest, the Casa do Estado itself, dates from 1851, while the youngest, the Casa office building, was built in 1978, according to the agency.
It is estimated that 2,450 state employees work in the complex’s buildings, while the Statehouse alone typically receives more than 100,000 visitors each year.
The Secretariat of Administration is evaluating how much it will cost to install the systems in the other properties it manages, as well as in rented spaces and other buildings in the state that it does not maintain.
Since it is “obviously related to COVID”, facilities could be paid for with federal relief from coronavirus, either with the remaining money from previous packages or the last round, said House Ways and Means President Murrell Smith, R- Sumter.
The buildings in the capitol complex are not the first buildings in the state to receive air filters.
The Department of Corrections installed the devices in its prisons in December, after obtaining approval from the Joint Bond Review Committee to spend nearly $ 1 million.
As for schools, the many expenses allowed for the $ 1 billion already allocated to South Carolina’s K-12 schools in federal aid COVID-19, as well as the additional $ 2 billion that come from the latest federal spending package, are filtering and new heating and air conditioning systems.
It is up to each local school council how to spend their share.
“There is a lot of money for them” to use the money in air purification systems, if they like, said Smith.
“Do you think they will?” Peeler asked rhetorically.
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