Comparing strategies for the mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 airborne infection risk in tiered auditorium venues

• Published in: Communications engineering Vol. 3; no. 1; pp. 161 - 15
• Main Authors: Geisler, S. Mareike, Lausch, Kevin H., Hehnen, Felix, Schulz, Isabell, Kertzscher, Ulrich, Kriegel, Martin, Paschereit, C. Oliver, Schimek, Sebastian, Hasirci, Ümit, Brockmann, Gerrid, Moter, Annette, Senftleben, Karolin, Moritz, Stefan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 09.11.2024; Springer Nature B.V; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/326; 639/705/1042; 692/699; Aerosols; Air flow; Airborne infection; Audiences; Auditoriums; Boundary conditions; COVID-19; Disease transmission; Engineering; Far fields; Infections; Outdoor air quality; Pandemics; Risk assessment; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Strategy; Ventilation; Venue; Viral diseases
• ISSN: 2731-3395; 2731-3395
• DOI: 10.1038/s44172-024-00297-y

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that reliable risk assessment of venues is still challenging and resulted in the indiscriminate closure of many venues worldwide. Therefore, this study used an experimental, numerical and analytical approach to investigate the airborne transmission risk potential of differently ventilated, sized and shaped venues. The data were used to assess the magnitude of effect of various mitigation measures and to develop recommendations. Here we show that, in general, positions in the near field of an emission source were at high risk, while the risk of infection from positions in the far field varied depending on the ventilation strategy. Occupancy, airflow rate, residence time, virus variants, activity level and face masks affected the individual and global infection risk in all venues. The global infection risk was lowest for the displacement ventilation case, making it the most effective ventilation strategy for keeping airborne transmission and the number of secondary cases low, compared to mixing or natural ventilation. Sophia Mareike Geisler and Kevin Harry Lausch with colleagues study the impact of ventilation strategies on the risk of COVID transmission. They demonstrate that the use of displacement ventilation is advantageous in stopping the virus spread in tiered auditoriums.