Assessment of COVID-19 Infection Risks in an Office Building: Field Study Investigation in Shenzhen, China
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 150, Issue 6
Abstract
The current cases and studies show that the aerosol propagation of COVID-19 is possible in the office buildings. The paper explored the ventilation level and monitoring methods for indoor infection risk in office buildings, improved the Wells-Riley equation and ventilation rate equation, providing the possibility of real-time monitoring of the transmission risk of COVID-19 in office buildings. Then, the main influencing factors of the exposure risk of SARS-CoV-2, including working density, dwell time, and fresh air volume per person, were field measured in three office areas and three conference rooms of an office building in Shenzhen, China. In addition, the field monitored carbon dioxide () data were used to estimate the possibility of COVID-19 infection in offices and conference rooms. The results show that the number of staff, ventilation rate, and office hours are all important factors affecting the infection risk of workers in the office building environment, but the existing literature rarely considers these three points at the same time. In addition, the paper adopted the method of assessing the infection risk from place to place, time to time, and person to person in the building environment, providing early warning for office buildings and helping to control the spread of airborne diseases. The results can be beneicial to understanding and taking necessary safety considerations against the infection risk in closed public or governmental environments.
Practical Applications
The paper explored the ventilation level and monitoring methods for indoor infection risk in office buildings and improved the Wells-Riley equation and ventilation rate equation, providing the possibility of real-time monitoring of the transmission risk of COVID-19 in office buildings. The results showed that the number of staff, ventilation rate, and office hours are all important factors affecting the infection risk of workers in the office building environment, but the existing literature has rarely considered these three points at the same time. Meanwhile, research has further demonstrated the connection between the risk of virus infection and indoor monitoring environmental indicators, providing a new path for further accurate prediction of indoor infection risk. The results can be beneficial to understanding and taking necessary safety considerations against the infection risk in closed public or governmental environments. Therefore, evaluating indoor transmission risks through monitoring environmental indicators is feasible and could be used as a reference basis for practical applications.
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Data Availability Statement
The data and materials have been explained in the paper. And all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This research is financially supported by 2023 Bozhou Philosophy and Social Science Research Project: Research on Urban Green Transformation and Development under the “Dual Carbon” Goal (A2023080), Research on Industrial Transfer, Environmental Regulation and Industrial Ecological Development: A Case Study of Anhui Province, Key Research Project of Humanities and Social Sciences in Universities in Anhui Province: Research on Green Finance Development from the Perspective of Regional Economic Development and Carbon Tax Mechanism Constraints--Taking Anhui Province as an Example (SK2020A0570), Anhui Province Scientific Research Compilation Plan Project: Research on Empowering High Quality Development of Tourism Industry in the Yangtze River Delta with Digital Economy and Policy Guidance (2022AH052401). The authors also would like to thank the Lab for Optimizing Design of Built Environment, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shenzhen University, and Redco Group for the technical support. And the authors are grateful to Mr. Yezhao Cai of Tsinghua Innovation Center in Zhuhai for his English proof.
Author contributions: Xiaoqiang Gong: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology; Data curation, Writing–original draft, Writing–review and editing, Visualization, Supervision. Zhengsong Xu: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Data curation, Writing–review and editing; Visualization, Supervision; Translation. Jiang Dong: Writing–review and editing; Supervision. Zengwen Bu: Writing–review and editing; Supervision; Investigation; Funding acquisition.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 150 • Issue 6 • June 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 20, 2023
Accepted: Dec 27, 2023
Published online: Apr 10, 2024
Published in print: Jun 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Sep 10, 2024
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