Mitigating COVID-19 infection disease transmission in indoor environment using physical barriers

Abstract

During the normalized phase of COVID-19, droplets or aerosol particles produced by infected personnel are considered as the potential source of infection with uncertain exposure risk. As such, in densely populated open spaces, it is necessary to adopt strategies to mitigate the risk of infection disease transmission while providing sufficient ventilation air. An example of such strategies is use of physical barriers. In this study, the impact of barrier heights on the spread of aerosol particles is investigated in an open office environment with the well-designed ventilation mode and supply air rate. The risk of infection disease transmission is evaluated using simulation of particle concentration in different locations and subject to a number of source scenarios. It was found that a barrier height of at least 60cm above the desk surface is needed to effectively prevent the transmission of viruses. For workstations within 4m from the outlet, a 70cm height is considered, and with a proper ventilation mode, it is shown that the barriers can reduce the risk of infection by 72%. However, for the workstations further away from the outlet (beyond 4m), the effect of physical barrier cannot be that significant. In summary, this study provides a theoretical analysis for implementing physical barriers, as a low-cost mitigation strategy, subject to various height scenarios and investigation of their effectiveness in reducing the infection transmission probability.

Challenges and coping strategies of online learning for college students in the context of COVID-19: A survey of Chinese universities

“…Since January 2022, recurring COVID-19 outbreaks have been occurred in multiple places/regions, with the number of new confirmed cases in January reaching a two-year high. As a result of COVID-19, countries have adopted diverse control strategies to reduce the spread of the epidemic, such as keeping social distance and lockdown ( Ren et al 2021 ; Balest and Stawinoga 2022 ), but various sectors have also been affected to varying degrees as a result. Among them, the education sector has been significantly affected, including significant changes in the way of knowledge transmission and the environment of teaching and learning.…”

Tempo-spatial infection risk assessment of airborne virus via CO2 concentration field monitoring in built environment

“…Dose-response model (Eq. (13) ) has been widely applied to assess the infection risk involved with viral aerosol inhalation [ [32] , [33] , [34] ], and was utilized in the present investigation. Where p is the infection probability with certain dose of viral inhalation (−), d represents the inhaled virus dose (RNA copies).…”

Sustainable solutions for indoor pollution abatement during COVID phase: A critical study on current technologies & challenges

“…It has been reported that long-time exposure to PM 2.5 is significantly detrimental to the human body by inhaling such fine PMs moves into the human lungs ( Wang et al, 2006 , Gemenetzis et al, 2006 , Qian et al, 2008 ). In addition, PM 2.5 has a long life in the air and is swiftly suspended in comparison to liquid droplets ( Figure 4 a, 4 b) which is a significant threat to a doctor`s health for a long time indoor conditions ( Ren et al, 2021 ). The PM 2.5 can be stocked on walls, the floor of hospitals chairs, table equipment's surface materials and quite easily moved by tiny turbulence in the air from normal physical activities such as people moving, and walking ( Liu et al, 2018 , Chatoutsidou et al, 2015 , Hanninen et al, 2005 , Zhang and Cao, 2015 , National Ambient 2022 ).…”

“…Reproduced with permission from ref. ( Ren et al, 2021 ) with license number [5177491160146], Copyright Elsevier 2021. …”