Experimental evaluation of respiratory droplet spread to rooms connected by a central ventilation system.

This article presents results from an experimental study to ascertain the transmissibility of the SARS-CoV-2 virus between rooms in a building that are connected by a central ventilation system. Respiratory droplet surrogates made of mucus and virus mimics were released in one room in a test building, and measurements of concentration levels were made in other rooms connected via the ventilation system. The paper presents experimental results for different ventilation system configurations, including ventilation rate, filtration level (up to MERV-13), and fractional outdoor air intake.

Investigation of potential aerosol transmission and infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 through central ventilation systems.

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised concern of viral spread within buildings. Although near-field transmission and infectious spread within individual rooms are well studied, the impact of aerosolized spread of SARS-CoV-2 via air handling systems within multiroom buildings remains unexplored. This study evaluates the concentrations and probabilities of infection for both building interior and exterior exposure sources using a well-mixed model in a multiroom building served by a central air handling system (without packaged terminal air conditioning).