Identifying behavior of long-distance virus transmission and mitigation performance from a COVID-19 outbreak of a daycare center

During the last two years, hundreds of millions of people in the world have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 due to recurrent waves and closed spaces. Daycare centers are critical infrastructures that cannot be replaced, even during the COVID-19 period. However, the existing settings in daycare centers...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental research 2022-09, Vol.212 (Pt B), p.113318-113318, Article 113318
Main Authors: Kim, Chul, Yu, Jungyeon, Lee, Yun Gyu, Kim, Jieun, Bae, Sanghwan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerosolized Particles and Droplets
Air purifier
Child
Child Day Care Centers
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
COVID-19 - transmission
Daycare center
Disease Outbreaks - prevention & control
Field investigation
Flush-out
Humans
Long-distance transmission
Republic of Korea
SARS-CoV-2
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Summary:During the last two years, hundreds of millions of people in the world have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 due to recurrent waves and closed spaces. Daycare centers are critical infrastructures that cannot be replaced, even during the COVID-19 period. However, the existing settings in daycare centers may pose risks of inevitable close contact between teachers and children, as well as fomite and airborne transmission during care hours. Therefore, reinforced mitigation strategies have been applied in daycare centers to reduce potential indoor virus transfer in many countries. However, numerous outbreaks of COVID-19 have been reported in daycare centers. Therefore, in this study, researchers focused on the risk and behavior of long-distance virus transmission based on the detected viruses on air purifier filter sampling in a daycare center outbreak in Korea. Various experiments of possible situations were conducted in nursing rooms based on field interviews. The experiments monitored the long-distance transmission behavior of aerosol-sized particles and visualized particle behavior at the daycare center. The results of this study revealed that long-distance virus transmission is possible under the current settings in the daycare center, and flush-out can be an important countermeasure with reinforced ventilation methods to prevent potential airborne spread in the daycare center. The results of air purifiers represented that air purifiers should be properly installed and operated in the daycare center to prevent airborne virus spread by airflow during occupied hours. The findings of this study will contribute to the understanding of airborne virus risk and the development of customized virus measures for daycare centers. •The potential of the long-distance transmission in the daycare center was investigated.•The experiments in the potential sources represented the risk of the long-distance transmission.•Flush-out before and after use has a significant impact on lowering the long-distance transmission.•The wind directions of air purifiers are important to prevent aerosol transmission by direct airflow.
ISSN:0013-9351
1096-0953
DOI:10.1016/j.envres.2022.113318