Berlin/Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) - Hesse has accessed around 13 percent of the maximum possible federal funding for the purchase of mobile air filter systems in schools and daycare centers for better corona protection. This emerges from a balance sheet at the end of the funding program, which the Federal Ministry of Economics sent to the German Press Agency on request. Overall, the federal states have accessed less than a quarter of the federal funds for mobile air purifiers.
According to this, the federal states had used almost 43.2 million of the available sum of 200 million euros by August 11 of this year. That corresponds to almost 22 percent. The "Table Media" specialist service had previously reported on the number of calls, albeit at an earlier level. According to the information, a good 1.98 million euros flowed to Hesse - according to the distribution key, a maximum of around 14.87 million euros would have been possible.
According to the ministry, the figures that the dpa now has are the final balance of the payments. Others are not planned because the funding program for mobile air filters expired on July 31 of this year. According to the information, no extension of the program is planned.
The funding program for the mobile air purifiers started on August 20, 2021. Some states had already set up their own funding programs for this and therefore not or only partially exhausted the federal funds, the ministry said. The state funding programs had started much earlier - in 2020.
In addition to mobile air cleaners, air filters that are used in stationary, i.e. already installed, ventilation systems can also be used to protect against infection in schools. According to estimates by the Federal Environment Agency, around ten percent of schools are currently equipped with permanently installed ventilation systems. Mobile cleaners would therefore not be necessary there.
