Recommendations for ventilation of indoor spaces to reduce COVID-19 transmission

Chen, Chung-Yen; Chen, Ping-Hui; Chen, Jia-Kun; Su, Ta‐Chen

doi:10.1016/j.jfma.2021.08.007

Cited by 28 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…The primary focus on ventilation in places where numerous footfalls are expected, such as schools, government offices, and wedding halls, would go a long way toward limiting transmission during the season. 90 , 91 …”

Section: Strategies To Manage the Upcoming Wave Of Infectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emerging evidence on Omicron (B.1.1.529) SARS‐CoV‐2 variant

Sharma

Rai

Gautam

et al. 2022

Journal of Medical Virology

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COVID's Omicron variant has sparked a slew of concerns across the globe. This review aims to provide a brief overview of what we know about the Omicron variant right now. The new variant has been discovered in 149 countries across all six World Health Organization (WHO) regions since its discovery in South Africa on November 24, 2021 and became the dominant variant in the country in less than 3 weeks. The WHO has warned that the B.1.1.529 variant is spreading at an unprecedented rate, and has urged countries to prepare for the worst. Over the course of this time, researchers from Africa and around the world have uncovered a wealth of information about the virus's epidemiology and biological properties. Case numbers are increasing exponentially in hard‐hit areas such as South Africa, United Kingdom, and USA (overtaking the delta variant), implying that the variant is highly transmissible. Initial research has provided some insights into the efficacy of vaccines against the Omicron variant and whether it produces major illness, however, much remains unknown, and additional work is needed to investigate what the initial reports represent in real‐world situations.

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Section: Strategies To Manage the Upcoming Wave Of Infectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emerging evidence on Omicron (B.1.1.529) SARS‐CoV‐2 variant

Sharma

Rai

Gautam

et al. 2022

Journal of Medical Virology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…By improving the quality of the Improved indoor environment indoor space, many of the issues that arise from poor health and well-being can be tackled effectively, and this is reflected in the rate of recovery from the disease. For instance, indoor spaces that support physical distancing would allow for safer passive and active social interactions while reducing the spread of the deadly disease (Chen et al, 2021). Again, by increasing the IAQ and thermal comfort of an indoor space, there is evidence of significant occupant health improvement and productivity (Li et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of improved indoor environment on recovery from COVID-19 infections: a review of literature

Afful

Antwi

Ayarkwa

et al. 2022

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Purpose This study aims to explore the impact of the indoor environment on recovery from COVID-19 infections. Extant literature on the impact of the four key themes of the indoor environment (indoor air quality, indoor thermal quality, daylighting and visual comfort, and acoustic comfort) on COVID-19 infection and recovery rates were reviewed. Design/methodology/approach Data collection for this study was based on extant literature within the Scopus database and scoped to a time frame of 2020–2021 because the topical issue of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and its impact on COVID-19 arose in the wake of the pandemic. In total, 224 documents were systematically desk reviewed from various journals. Findings The study identified that air pollutants such as PM2.5 and PM10 as well as air-conditioned places, low ambient temperatures, poor ventilation and no views of the outdoor environment were deteriorating factors for COVID-19 patients. On the other hand, proper ventilation, the use of air cleaners, views of the outdoor environment and allowance for ample daylighting were improvement factors for COVID-19 patients. The inter-relationship of the various concepts was presented in an ontology chart. Practical implications As COVID-19 still exists and keeps evolving, this study provides suggestions to industry professionals, especially health-care Facility Managers, to create a post-pandemic environment focusing on the IEQ and finding long-term and reliable solutions for the well-being of occupants. Adaptability is crucial. New, creative technology solutions are being introduced daily, but it is up to the facility managers and health-care professionals to analyse and specify the most cost- and outcome-effective technologies for their facility. Originality/value The study brought to light the pivotal role of the indoor environment on the health and well-being of occupants, particularly in the contraction, spread, prevention and control of infectious diseases such as COVID-19.

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“…From the viewpoint of infection risk, strong variance in the CO 2 content of a room also indicates a potential spatial variance in the infection risk of an airborne disease. While indoor CO 2 measurements have recently been employed as a proxy to monitoring the virus concentration during the COVID-19 pandemic [67][68][69][70], one could argue that the information provided by CO 2 sensors can yield misleading output if such local variances are not quantified while designing the measurement setup. The observations highlight the importance of accounting for the uncertainty resulting from the geometric features of indoor spaces.…”

Section: Three Indoor Airflow Configurations 331 Room Setups and Over...mentioning

confidence: 99%

A GPU-accelerated computational fluid dynamics solver for assessing shear-driven indoor airflow and virus transmission by scale-resolved simulations

Korhonen¹,

Laitinen²,

Isitman³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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We explore the applicability of MATLAB for 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) of shear-driven indoor airflows. A new scale-resolving, large-eddy simulation (LES) solver titled DNSLABIB is proposed for MATLAB utilizing graphics processing units (GPUs). In DNSLABIB, the finite difference method is applied for the convection and diffusion terms while a Poisson equation solver based on the fast Fourier transform (FFT) is employed for the pressure. The immersed boundary method (IBM) for Cartesian grids is proposed to model solid walls and objects, doorways, and air ducts by binary masking of the solid/fluid domains. The solver is validated in two canonical reference cases. Then, we demonstrate the validity of DNSLABIB in a room geometry by comparing the results against another CFD software (OpenFOAM). Next, we demonstrate the solver performance in several isothermal indoor ventilation configurations and the implications of the results are discussed in the context of airborne transmission of COVID-19. The novel numerical findings using the new CFD solver are as follows. First, a linear scaling of DNSLABIB is demonstrated and a speed-up by a factor of 3-4 is also demonstrated in comparison to similar OpenFOAM simulations. Second, ventilation in three different indoor geometries are studied at both low (0.1m/s) and high (1m/s) airflow rates corresponding to Re = 5000 and Re = 50000. An analysis of the indoor CO 2 concentration is carried out as the room is emptied from stale, high CO 2 content air. We estimate the air changes per hour (ACH) values for three different room geometries and show that the numerical estimates from 3D CFD simulations may differ by 80-150 % (Re = 50000) and 75-140 % (Re = 5000) from the theoretical ACH value based on the perfect mixing assumption. Third, the analysis of the CO 2 probability distributions (PDFs) indicates a relatively non-uniform distribution of fresh air indoors. Fourth, utilizing a time-dependent Wells-Riley analysis, an example is provided on the growth of the cumulative infection risk which is shown to reduce rapidly after the ventilation is started. The average infection risk is shown to reduce by a factor of 2 for lower ventilation rates (ACH=3.4-6.3) and 10 for the the higher ventilation rates (ACH=37-64). Finally, we utilize the new solver to comment on respiratory particle transport indoors. The primary contribution of the paper is to provide an efficient, GPU compatible CFD solver environment enabling scale-resolved simulations (LES/DNS) of airflow in large indoor 1 geometries on a desktop computer. The demonstrated efficacy of MATLAB for GPU computing indicates a high potential of DNSLABIB for various future developments on airflow prediction.

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Recommendations for ventilation of indoor spaces to reduce COVID-19 transmission

Cited by 28 publications

References 4 publications

Emerging evidence on Omicron (B.1.1.529) SARS‐CoV‐2 variant

Emerging evidence on Omicron (B.1.1.529) SARS‐CoV‐2 variant

Impact of improved indoor environment on recovery from COVID-19 infections: a review of literature

A GPU-accelerated computational fluid dynamics solver for assessing shear-driven indoor airflow and virus transmission by scale-resolved simulations

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