Site shares measures to reduce transmission
The web-based tool calculates the probability of infection in a building by using publicly available data from building standards and codes and geographic information from various sources such as OpenStreetMap, Microsoft Building Footprints and the City of Montreal.
Users can pick any building in the Montreal region. The tool will guide them through a personalized assessment, prompting them to provide information such as air exchange rates, ventilation, air filtration conditions, occupation density, staying time and whether or not occupants are required to wear a mask.
“The research used to develop this tool shows that there’s a correlation between indoor airborne virus transmission risk, the number of people in a space and how long they stay there,” Wang adds. “This confirms that wearing a mask indoors can be critical in slowing the spread of the virus.”
Based on the building parametres fed into the site, Wang’s tool provides a list of measures to help building owners reduce the risk of indoor infections due to airborne virus aerosols.
“The website aims to provide a quality scientific method on building ventilation to help policy-makers and the general public make informed decisions about how to slow the spread of the new coronavirus from airborne aerosol transmission,” Wang notes.
“Other precaution and mitigation measures must also be strictly maintained, such as social distancing and frequent disinfection, to reduce the risks due to contact and droplet transmissions indoors.”
CityRPI was built using an open-source tool developed by Wang’s collaborators Shelly Miller and a team led by Jose Jimenez, both at the University of Colorado Boulder. It was funded thanks to a Discovery Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Here are some best practices to minimize the risk of airborne virus transmission indoors
- Wear a face mask
- Upgrade to high-efficiency duct filters in HVAC systems
- Regularly change air filters in ventilation systems and air cleaners
- Use portable air cleaners in poorly ventilated and/or crowded spaces
- Spend less time in public spaces indoors
- Reduce the number of occupants in a space
Check out the City Reduced Probability of Infection (CityRPI) site and find out more about Concordia’s Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science.