Ventilation procedures to minimize the airborne transmission of viruses in classrooms

Reducing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through indoor air is the key challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic. Crowded indoor environments, such as schools, represent possible hotspots for virus transmission since the basic non-pharmaceutical mitigation measures applied so far (e.g. social distancing) do not eliminate the airborne transmission mode. There is widespread consensus that improved ventilation is needed to minimize the transmission potential of airborne viruses in schools, whether through mechanical systems or ad-hoc manual airing procedures in naturally ventilated buildings. However, there remains significant uncertainty surrounding exactly what ventilation rates are required, and how to best achieve these targets with limited time and resources. This paper uses a mass balance approach to quantify the ability of both mechanical ventilation and ad-hoc airing procedures to mitigate airborne transmission risk in the classroom environment. For naturally-ventilated classrooms, we propose a novel feedback control strategy using CO2 concentrations to continuously monitor and adjust the airing procedure. Our case studies show how such procedures can be applied in the real world to support the reopening of schools during the pandemic. Our results also show the inadequacy of relying on absolute CO2 concentration thresholds as the sole indicator of airborne transmission risk.

Automated summary

The key challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic is reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through indoor air. Improved ventilation in crowded indoor environments like schools can help minimize airborne transmission, but there is uncertainty around required ventilation rates and achieving targets efficiently. The study explores using mechanical ventilation and ad-hoc airing procedures to mitigate airborne transmission risk in classrooms, proposing a feedback control strategy for naturally-ventilated classrooms.