Airborne infection risks of SARS-CoV-2 in U.S. schools and impacts of different intervention strategies.
Sustain Cities Soc
; 74: 103188, 2021 Nov.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1406340
ABSTRACT
The potential airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has triggered concerns as schools continue to reopen and resume in-person instruction during the current COVID-19 pandemic. It is critical to understand the risks of airborne SARS-CoV-2 transmission under different epidemiological scenarios and operation strategies for schools to make informed decisions to mitigate infection risk. Through scenario-based analysis, this study estimates the airborne infection risk of SARS-CoV-2 in 111,485 U.S. public and private schools and evaluates the impacts of different intervention strategies, including increased ventilation, air filtration, and hybrid learning. Schools in more than 90% of counties exhibit infection risk of higher than 1%, indicating the significance of implementing intervention strategies. Among the considered strategies, air filtration is found to be most effective the school average infection risk when applying MERV 13 is over 30% less than the risk levels correlating with the use of increased ventilation and hybrid learning strategies, respectively. For most schools, it is necessary to adopt combined intervention strategies to ensure the infection risk below 1%. The results provide insights into airborne infection risk in schools under various scenarios and may guide schools and policymakers in developing effective operations strategies to maintain environmental health.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
Language:
English
Journal:
Sustain Cities Soc
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.scs.2021.103188
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS