Identifying Potential Superspreaders of Airborne Infectious Diseases in Construction Projects
Publication: Journal of Management in Engineering
Volume 39, Issue 6
Abstract
The spread of airborne infectious diseases has largely been driven by superspreading events, in which a single individual directly infects several contacts. Superspreading events that occurred at several construction sites around the world afflicted construction practitioners and forced the suspension of construction activities. To reduce the probability of superspreading events, this study developed a network-based computational framework based on a -shell decomposition approach with the input of the topological interaction network of project participants to identify potential superspreaders in construction projects. The feasibility of the developed framework was evaluated with three numerical case studies: one sample case with a hierarchical structure with an average accuracy of 98.45%, one sample case with a matrix structure with an average accuracy of 92.25%, and an empirical case related to a COVID-19 outbreak in a construction project in Hong Kong with an accuracy of over 80.13%. This study recommends that all potential superspreaders, especially if they are employed by the main contractor, take rapid antigen tests (RATs) regularly. If all potential superspreaders are detected through regular RATs and all potential secondary cases are detected by contract tracing, up to 82.35% of infected cases can be prevented.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Journal of Management in Engineering
Volume 39 • Issue 6 • November 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 3, 2023
Accepted: Jun 20, 2023
Published online: Aug 9, 2023
Published in print: Nov 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Jan 9, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Analysis (by type)
- Biological processes
- Business management
- Case studies
- Construction engineering
- Construction management
- Construction sites
- Decomposition
- Diseases
- Engineering fundamentals
- Environmental engineering
- Feasibility studies
- Health hazards
- Methodology (by type)
- Numerical analysis
- Practice and Profession
- Project management
- Public administration
- Public health and safety
- Research methods (by type)
- Waste management
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