Modeling for understanding of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) spread and design of an isolation room in a hospital

Abstract

We have modeled the transmission of coronavirus 2019 in the isolation room of a patient suffering from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London. An adaptive mesh computational fluid dynamics model was used for simulation of three-dimensional spatial distribution of SARS-CoV-2 in the room. The modeling set-up is based on data collected in the room during the patient stay. Many numerical experiments have been carried out to provide an optimal design layout of the overall isolation room. Our focus has been on (1) the location of the air extractor and filtration rates, (2) the bed location of the patient, and (3) consideration of the health and safety of the staff working in the area.

New ventilation design criteria for energy sustainability and indoor air quality in a post Covid-19 scenario

“…As an example, it is possible to adopt filtration, air ionization, and ultraviolet light. Nonetheless, increasing outdoor air ventilation is largely recognized in literature as the most effective method to reduce the Covid-19 contagion risk, and to increase the IAQ, without particular technical issues, while also proven to be safe for human beings (as long as the indoor air velocity is maintained in a certain range [ [44] , [45] , [46] ]). In this context, outdoor air ventilation rates augmented three and ten times (Proposed System 1 – PS1, and Proposed System 2 – PS2, respectively) than those suggested by the standard have been considered and tested.…”