Implemented indoor airborne transmission mitigation strategies during COVID-19: a systematic review

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted major economic and health burdens across the world. On the other hand, the potential airborne transmission of SARS-COV-2 via air can deeply undermine the effectiveness of countermeasures against spreading the disease. Therefore, there is an intense focus to look for ways to mitigate the COVID-19 spread within various indoor settings. This work systematically reviewed articles regarding airborne transmission of SARS-COV2 in various indoor settings since the onset of the pandemic. The systematic search was performed in Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed databases and has returned 19 original articles carefully screened with regard to inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results showed that the facilities, such as dormitories and classrooms, received the most attention followed by office buildings, healthcare facilities, residential buildings, and other potential enclosed spaces such as a metro wagon. Besides, the majority of the studies were conducted experimentally while other studies were done using computer simulations. United States (n = 5), Spain (n = 4) and China (n = 3) were the top three countries based on the number of performed research. Ventilation rate was the most influential parameter in controlling the infection spread. CO 2 was the primary reference for viral spread in the buildings. The use of natural ventilation or a combination of mechanical and natural ventilations was found to be highly effective in the studies. The current work helps in furthering research on effective interventions to improve indoor air quality and control the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases. Supplementary information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40201-023-00847-0.

Research on the Impact of Air Temperature and Wind Speed on Ventilation in University Dormitories under Different Wind Directions (Northeast China)

“…With the continuous popularization of higher education, the number of college students in Northeast China has been increasing. Following the coronavirus pandemic, people have realized that sufficient attention must be paid to the health issues of university students [1]. Since the dormitory is the place where the students spend most of their time while attending school, how to build a safer and healthy place for students is a meaningful topic.…”

Monitoring the ventilation of living spaces to assess the risk of airborne transmission of infection using a novel Pocket CO2 Logger to track carbon dioxide concentrations in Tokyo

“…Wiryasaputra et al [ 21 ] conducted a systematic review of studies that monitored indoor environments, particularly CO 2 , to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection. According to a systematic review of 19 articles in urban spaces, CO 2 is the primary reference for the spread of novel coronaviruses in buildings [ 22 ]. Studies have been conducted to visualize areas at high risk of COVID-19 infection using the CO 2 tracer gas method [ 23 – 27 ].…”