A post-occupancy study of ventilation effectiveness from high-resolution CO2 monitoring at live theatre events to mitigate airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2
Mass-gathering events were closed around the world in 2020 to minimise the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Emerging research on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 emphasised the importance of sufficient ventilation. This paper presents the results of an indoor air quality (IAQ) monitoring study over 82 events in seven mechanically ventilated auditoria to support the UK government Events Research Programme. Indoor carbon dioxide concentration was measured at high resolution before, during, and after occupancy to allow for assessment of the ventilation systems. Generally, good indoor air quality was measured in all auditoria, with average IAQ found to be excellent or very good for 70% of spaces. In some auditoria, spatial variation in IAQ was identified, indicating poor mixing of the air. In addition, surface and air samples were taken and analysed for the presence of bacteria by culture and SARS-CoV-2 using RT-qPCR in one venue. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected on a small number of surfaces at very low copy numbers, which are unlikely to pose an infection risk. Under the ventilation strategies and occupancy levels investigated, it is likely that most theatres pose a low risk of long-range transmission of COVID-19.
Funding
Airborne Infection Reduction through Building Operation and Design for SARS-CoV-2 (AIRBODS)
UK Research and Innovation
Find out more...UK Government Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport
History
School
- Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
Published in
Building and EnvironmentVolume
223Issue
2022Publisher
ElsevierVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Rights holder
© The AuthorsPublisher statement
This is an Open Access Article. It is published by Elsevier under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Acceptance date
2022-07-10Publication date
2022-07-31Copyright date
2022ISSN
0360-1323Publisher version
Language
- en