COVID-19 and transport: Findings from a world-wide expert survey

Zhang, Junyi; Hayashi, Yoshitsugu; Frank, Lawrence D.

doi:10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.01.011

Cited by 284 publications

(195 citation statements)

References 74 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

183

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Indeed, insufficient ventilation in highly crowded environments such as restaurants, schools, and gyms does not allow proper dilution of virus-laden respiratory particles emitted by infected subjects, leading to a high percentage of secondary infections amongst exposed susceptibles [ 2 , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] ]. To this end, governments worldwide have imposed temporary shutdowns of most indoor environments, including schools [ [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] ], being in the difficult role of deciding whether to prioritize the right to education or to health. After the first pandemic wave (early 2020), guidelines for reopening schools were prepared and adopted in view of opening the schools in the late (northern hemisphere) summer, but they mainly relied upon promoting personal behaviors and basic non-pharmaceutical mitigation measures (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ventilation procedures to minimize the airborne transmission of viruses in classrooms

Stabile

Pacitto

Mikszewski

et al. 2021

Building and Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reducing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through indoor air is the key challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic. Crowded indoor environments, such as schools, represent possible hotspots for virus transmission since the basic non-pharmaceutical mitigation measures applied so far (e.g. social distancing) do not eliminate the airborne transmission mode. There is widespread consensus that improved ventilation is needed to minimize the transmission potential of airborne viruses in schools, whether through mechanical systems or ad-hoc manual airing procedures in naturally ventilated buildings. However, there remains significant uncertainty surrounding exactly what ventilation rates are required, and how to best achieve these targets with limited time and resources. This paper uses a mass balance approach to quantify the ability of both mechanical ventilation and ad-hoc airing procedures to mitigate airborne transmission risk in the classroom environment. For naturally-ventilated classrooms, we propose a novel feedback control strategy using CO 2 concentrations to continuously monitor and adjust the airing procedure. Our case studies show how such procedures can be applied in the real world to support the reopening of schools during the pandemic. Our results also show the inadequacy of relying on absolute CO 2 concentration thresholds as the sole indicator of airborne transmission risk.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ventilation procedures to minimize the airborne transmission of viruses in classrooms

Stabile

Pacitto

Mikszewski

et al. 2021

Building and Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There have been substantial research efforts with a focus on transport policy against the COVID-19 pandemic. A study by Zhang et al (2021) that conducted a world-wide expert survey for COVID-19 and transportation noted that preparation for the current COVID-19 pandemic was not sufficient and stressed that preparedness plays an important role in preventing and mitigating the adverse impacts of pandemics. In that vein, Zhang (2020) has proposed a PASS (Prepare-Protect-Provide, Avoid-Adjust, Shift-Share, Substitute-Stop) approach targeting transportation-related stakeholders such as users, operators, and governments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying areas of potential critical healthcare shortages: A case study of spatial accessibility to ICU beds during the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Healthcare resource availability is potentially associated with COVID-19 mortality, and the potentially uneven geographical distribution of resources is a looming concern in the global pandemic. Given that access to healthcare resources is important to overall population health, assessing COVID-19 patients' access to healthcare resources is needed. This paper aims to examine the temporal variations in the spatial accessibility of U.S. COVID-19 patients to medical facilities, identify areas that are likely to be overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and explore associations of low access areas with their socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. We use a three-step floating catchment area method, spatial statistics, and logistic regression to achieve the goals. Findings of this research in the State of Florida revealed that North Florida, rural areas, and zip codes with more Latino or Hispanic populations are more likely to have lower access than other regions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our approach can help policymakers identify potentially possible low access areas and establish appropriate policy intervention paying attention to those areas during a pandemic.

show abstract

“…Our first research question is "how did the highway operator respond to the pandemic crisis and to the need to keep operation activities and health safety measures?". This is a novel question, as no highway operators' contingence plans had precedented such an event [22,23]. Therefore, highway operators faced a new, unexpected, and dire situation with very little time to respond effectively.…”

Section: Case Study Research and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We need to employ different levels of analysis and data, both qualitative and quantitative. Considering the various uncertainties and unknowns about this virus and its impacts, it is critical to understand opinions and suggestions from experts within the transport sector and related planning fields [23].…”

Section: Case Study Research and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of COVID-19 on Highway Traffic and Management: The Case Study of an Operator Perspective

Cruz

Sarmento

2021

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The COVID-19 pandemic created an enormous disruption to the everyday life of the modern society. Among the various urban systems, transportation services were among those that suffered the most significant impacts, particularly severe in the case of highways. This paper addresses the challenges and responses to the pandemic from a private highway operator’s perspective and from a multidisciplinary perspective. Highway operators faced two main challenges: on one hand, the need to cope with the potential disruption caused by the pandemic and a national lockdown for almost three months, the provision of road services, and the requirement to ensure the proper operation and maintenance, and on the other hand, the strong negative impact of the pandemic on levels of traffic. Our case study shows that the operator’s management response in question is essentially characterised by being a first response to short term impacts while balancing for workers health and safety, engineering and management, internal business management, and overall economic impact. Highway operators were hardly prepared for such an event and became more focused on prioritising their employees and clients’ safety to avoid service disruption. Regarding levels of traffic, the pandemic has had severe effects, although to a varying degree, depending on the different types of vehicles (heavy, light, passenger, freight, among other types of vehicles) and the location of highways (coastal vs. interior). The lessons learnt can be valuable in future disruptive events and for other highway concession operators.

show abstract

COVID-19 and transport: Findings from a world-wide expert survey

Cited by 284 publications

References 74 publications

Ventilation procedures to minimize the airborne transmission of viruses in classrooms

Ventilation procedures to minimize the airborne transmission of viruses in classrooms

Identifying areas of potential critical healthcare shortages: A case study of spatial accessibility to ICU beds during the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida

The Impact of COVID-19 on Highway Traffic and Management: The Case Study of an Operator Perspective

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About