Open AccessVentilation System Operation to Minimize the COVID-19 Airborne Transmission in Schools
Author(s) -
Luca Stabile,
Antonio Pacitto,
Giorgio Buonanno,
Marco Dell’Isola
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
tecnica italiana
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 0040-1846
DOI - 10.18280/ti-ijes.652-424
Subject(s) - airborne transmission , transmission (telecommunications) , covid-19 , ventilation (architecture) , environmental science , social distance , face masks , computer science , simulation , meteorology , medicine , virology , telecommunications , geography , disease , pathology , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Minimizing the SARS-CoV-2 virus transmission is essential to face the COVID-19 pandemic. This is even more important for highly crowded indoor environments, e.g. schools, where the mitigation solutions based on social distancing and hand washing seem to be not effective to reduce the virus airborne transmission mode, which is the main route of transmission. To minimize the airborne virus transmission a proper ventilation is necessary. In the study, a simplified mass balance equation (box-model) was applied to school scenarios in order to determine the required conditions to maintain the infection risk below an acceptable level. In particular, the required air exchange rates for mechanically-ventilated classrooms and the adequate airing procedures for naturally ventilated classrooms were determined. Moreover, for naturally ventilated classrooms, a control strategy based on the measurement of CO2 indoor concentration was also developed.