1. Combining Phi6 as a surrogate virus and computational large‐eddy simulations to study airborne transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 in a restaurant
- Author
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Lotta Oksanen, Mikko Auvinen, Joel Kuula, Rasmus Malmgren, Martin Romantschuk, Antti Hyvärinen, Sirpa Laitinen, Leena Maunula, Enni Sanmark, Ahmed Geneid, Svetlana Sofieva, Julija Salokas, Helin Veskiväli, Tarja Sironen, Tiia Grönholm, Antti Hellsten, Nina Atanasova, Ilmatieteen laitos, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Research Programs Unit, HUS Head and Neck Center, Korva-, nenä- ja kurkkutautien klinikka, Molecular and Integrative Biosciences Research Programme, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Aerovirology Research Group, Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), Biosciences, Ecosystems and Environment Research Programme, Departments of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Food Hygiene and Environmental Health, Helsinki One Health (HOH), Food and Environmental Virology Research Group, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty Common Matters (Faculty of Medicine), Viral Zoonosis Research Unit, Emerging Infections Research Group, Department of Virology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, and Department of Microbiology
- Subjects
Restaurants ,Environmental Engineering ,virukset ,communicable diseases ,indoor air ,infektiot ,tartuntataudit ,virus diseases ,Humans ,viruses ,simulointi ,infections ,Infective viruses ,aerosolit ,Aerosol transmission ,SARS-CoV-2 ,sisäilma ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,COVID-19 ,Respiratory Aerosols and Droplets ,Air purifiers ,Building and Construction ,simulation ,air quality ,3142 Public health care science, environmental and occupational health ,virustaudit ,Air Pollution, Indoor ,ilmanlaatu ,Space dividers ,Infection-probability ,aerosols - Abstract
COVID-19 has highlighted the need for indoor risk-reduction strategies. Our aim is to provide information about the virus dispersion and attempts to reduce the infection risk. Indoor transmission was studied simulating a dining situation in a restaurant. Aerosolized Phi6 viruses were detected with several methods. The aerosol dispersion was modeled by using the Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) technique. Three risk-reduction strategies were studied: (1) augmenting ventilation with air purifiers, (2) spatial partitioning with dividers, and (3) combination of 1 and 2. In all simulations infectious viruses were detected throughout the space proving the existence long-distance aerosol transmission indoors. Experimental cumulative virus numbers and LES dispersion results were qualitatively similar. The LES results were further utilized to derive the evolution of infection probability. Air purifiers augmenting the effective ventilation rate by 65% reduced the spatially averaged infection probability by 30%-32%. This relative reduction manifests with approximately 15 min lag as aerosol dispersion only gradually reaches the purifier units. Both viral findings and LES results confirm that spatial partitioning has a negligible effect on the mean infection-probability indoors, but may affect the local levels adversely. Exploitation of high-resolution LES jointly with microbiological measurements enables an informative interpretation of the experimental results and facilitates a more complete risk assessment.
- Published
- 2022