A small primary school in Brisbane has remained virtually outbreak-free thanks to a group of dads using science and engineering nous to prevent COVID-19 spreading through classrooms.

School principal Lachlyn Bowie told Millsy at Midday host Steve Mills a working group from Brisbane Independent School, which included an engineer and medical specialist, discussed ways to slow the spread of infection after Queensland’s interstate borders reopened and their approach was overwhelmingly successful.

“Everybody was quite concerned with the borders opening up and when they approached me I was really grateful for their expert advice,” she told host Steve Mills.

“I think that’s what we need to go back to here, we need to have experts telling us what we can do, and keep our high-risk settings, like schools, safe.”

One of the dads involved, George Roff, a Brisbane scientist who specialises in marine ecology, told Millsy the group studied airflow patterns in the school’s five classrooms and administration areas via a smoke machine.

“We use a suite of measures, firstly a smoke machine like from a 1980s disco … and used the smoke to detect where the airflow was occurring … and got to see the patterns of ventilation,” Dr Roff said.

11/ A group of parents spent the weekend with a smoke machine setting up classrooms – adjusting airflow with fans and positioning the units in each classroom. The outcome? It WORKS. A *massive* increase in air-flow with aerosols extracted through open doors and windows pic.twitter.com/DHwMjuETk3

— Jez Roff (@JezRoff) February 7, 2022

“By changing the position of the fans, we set up the classrooms like an extraction fan … and encouraged good ventilation, helping to keep the children safe. There’s really good science behind it.”

Carbon dioxide meters also helped identify low-ventilation areas or “dead spots”, while air purifiers mitigated the risk from COVID particles that might be in the classrooms and other indoor areas of the school.

The novel strategy comes as a lack of guidance on preventing COVID-19 spreading through schools remains a concern for parents in WA and across Australia.

Press PLAY below to hear Dr Roff and Ms Bowie discuss the smoke machine method.