ABSTRACT
BackgroundAbout 15 million people worldwide were affected by the Sars-Cov-2 infection, which already caused 600,000 deaths. This virus is mainly transmitted through exhalations from the airways of infected persons, so that Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems might play a role in increasing or reducing the spreading of the infection in indoor environments. MethodsWe modelled the role of HVAC systems in the diffusion of the contagion through Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of cough at the "Bambino Gesu" Vatican State Childrens Hospital. Both waiting and hospital rooms were modeled as indoor scenarios. A specific Infection-Index ({eta}) parameter was used to estimate the amount of contaminated air inhaled by each person present in the simulated indoor scenarios. The potential role of exhaust air ventilation systems placed above the coughing patients mouth was also assessed. ResultsOur CFD-based simulations of the waiting room show that HVAC air-flow remarkably enhances infected droplets diffusion in the whole indoor environment within 25 seconds from the cough event, despite the observed dilution of saliva particles containing the virus. At the same time also their number is reduced due to removal through the HVAC system or deposition on the surfaces. The proper use of Local Exhaust Ventilation systems (LEV) simulated in the hospital room was associated to a complete reduction of infected droplets spreading from the patients mouth in the first 0.5 seconds following the cough event. In the hospital room, the use of LEV system completely reduced the {eta} index computed for the patient hospitalized at the bed next to the spreader, with a decreased possibility of contagion. ConclusionsCFD-based simulations for indoor environment can be useful to optimize air conditioning flow and to predict the contagion risk both in hospitals/ambulatories and in other public/private settings.
