• Delos and Humanity 2.0 Well Being collaborate to provide groundbreaking programs to support Catholic educational institutions in responding to COVID-19.
  • Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome were early adopters of the new programs.
  • Delos is offering the programs to Catholic universities/schools with no upfront capital expenditure.
  • Programs include technologies and other solutions to help mitigate the threat of COVID-19 in the indoor environment.

Delos, a company based in NYC and a global leader on understanding the impacts of buildings on human health and wellness, and Humanity 2.0 Well Being, an impact organization based in Rome working to accelerate human flourishing in collaboration with the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development of the Holy See, acknowledged the risk that COVID-19 poses to non-profit sectors like education and so collaborated to help ensure solutions and technologies aimed at mitigating COVID-19 in the indoor environment were made more widely accessible.

They are deploying programs for the indoor environment, combining technologies such as cutting-edge air filtration and solutions designed to improve overall health and wellbeing, in order to provide universities/schools an industry leading response to not only COVID-19, but also to the effects of the pandemic such as stress and mental health problems.

Paul Scialla, CEO of Delos, shared that when it comes to ways for the built environment to mitigate the spread of COVID “air filtration should be a top priority.

Packing students into classrooms and residences without addressing the risk of airborne transmission of COVID-19 is not only ill-advised, it is potentially deadly”. This is why the NYC Department of Education selected Delos to provide air purification solutions for NYC Schools in response to COVID-19.

“air filtration should be a top priority”

Two universities with presidents renowned for their visionary leadership, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome were among the first to adopt Delos’ leading programs designed to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.

Leading Universities

Fr. James Burns, President of Saint Mary’s University, shared that “our students’ health and wellbeing is at the center of all we do.

Pursuing education has always involved a social responsibility” and this is why they implemented the Delos program and have “installed 860 Delos air purification systems in all sleeping rooms”.

Saint Mary’s also has joined organizations such as the NY Yankees in enrolling in the WELL Health-Safety Rating certification program administered by Delos’ wholly-owned subsidiary, the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), to give parents and students confidence that the most stringent standards are being observed on campus.

“the Church should not just be speaking about these important things, but taking some leadership in putting these things in place.”

Fr. David Nazar, SJ, Rector (President) of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, shared that “COVID-19 is representative of so many other diseases we expect to be hit with in the future that we have to prepare for”.

The Orientale has opted to install not only leading air purification technologies in its classrooms and residences, but also to integrate other health and wellness technologies such as circadian lighting, acoustical upgrades, and stress-reducing programs to create an optimal environment for learning.

Fr. Nazar feels his efforts at the Orientale are a direct response to a call-to-action from Pope Francis that “the Church should not just be speaking about these important things, but taking some leadership in putting these things in place”.

Impact Commitment

Delos is committed to making its health and wellness technologies and solutions available to all Catholic and other education facilities throughout the U.S. Recognizing that the pandemic has significantly impacted universities and schools and the capital outlay needed to purchase necessary upgrades to their facilities may not be available, Delos has responded by providing these technologies and solutions to educational institutions through multi-year programs with no upfront capital requirement to remove a potential barrier to integrating these important health and safety upgrades.

Humanity 2.0 Well Being is pleased to be able to collaborate with Delos in making its leading programs accessible to Catholic educational institutions. Morad Fareed, CEO of Humanity 2.0 Well Being, adds that “healthy educational spaces are not only about science and health, but dignity.“

Given how critically important educational institutions are to the functioning of our society it is a blessing to know that there are organizations committed to social impact like Delos and Humanity 2.0 Well Being, but what the U.S. needs even more is visionary leaders like Fr. Burns and Fr. Nazar who are willing to confront this crisis and take bold moves to protect those in their care.