The effect of increasing indoor ventilation on artificially generated aerosol particle counts.
PLoS One
; 16(10): e0258382, 2021.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1463317
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 global pandemic has caused millions of infections and deaths despite mitigation efforts that involve physical distancing, mask-wearing, avoiding indoor gatherings and increasing indoor ventilation. The purpose of this study was to compare ways to improve indoor ventilation and assess its effect on artificially generated aerosol counts. It was hypothesized that inbuilt kitchen vents would be more effective in reducing indoor aerosol counts than opening windows alone. A fixed amount of saline aerosol was dispersed in the experimental area using a nebulizer under constant temperature and a narrow range of humidity. A laser air quality monitor was used to record small particle counts every 30 minutes from baseline to 120 minutes for four different experimental groups for each combination of kitchen vents and windows. The results of the study demonstrate that aerosol counts were lowest with the kitchen exhaust vents on. This study suggests that liberal use of home exhaust systems like the kitchen vents could achieve significantly more air exchange than open windows alone and may present an effective solution to improving indoor ventilation, especially during the colder months when people tend to congregate indoors in closed spaces. There were no safety concerns involved when conducting this experiment.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Ventilation
/
Air Pollution, Indoor
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
PLoS One
Journal subject:
Science
/
Medicine
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Journal.pone.0258382
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