tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Build Environ
. 2021 Nov;205:108239.
doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108239. Epub 2021 Aug 8.
Aerosols from speaking can linger in the air for up to nine hours
Shirun Ding[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Zhen Wei Teo[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Man Pun Wan[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Bing Feng Ng[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Airborne transmission of respiratory diseases has been under intense spotlight in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) where continued resurgence is linked to the relaxation of social interaction measures. To understand the role of speech aerosols in the spread of COVID-19 globally, the lifetime and size distribution of the aerosols are studied through a combination of light scattering observation and aerosol sampling. It was found that aerosols from speaking suspended in stagnant air for up to 9 h with a half-life of 87.2 min. The half-life of the aerosols declined with the increase in air change per hour from 28 to 40 min (1 h[SUP]-1[/SUP]), 10-14 min (4 h[SUP]-1[/SUP]), to 4-6 min (9 h[SUP]-1[/SUP]). The speech aerosols in the size range of about 0.3-2 μm (after dehydration) witnessed the longest lifetime compared to larger aerosols (2-10 μm). These results suggest that speech aerosols have the potential to transmit respiratory viruses across long duration (hours), and long-distance (over social distance) through the airborne route. These findings are important for researchers and engineers to simulate the airborne dispersion of viruses in indoor environments and to design new ventilation systems in the future.
Keywords: Airborne transmission; COVID-19; Lifetime; Respiratory diseases; Speech aerosol.
. 2021 Nov;205:108239.
doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108239. Epub 2021 Aug 8.
Aerosols from speaking can linger in the air for up to nine hours
Shirun Ding[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Zhen Wei Teo[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Man Pun Wan[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Bing Feng Ng[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 34393326
- PMCID: PMC8349476
- DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108239
Abstract
Airborne transmission of respiratory diseases has been under intense spotlight in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) where continued resurgence is linked to the relaxation of social interaction measures. To understand the role of speech aerosols in the spread of COVID-19 globally, the lifetime and size distribution of the aerosols are studied through a combination of light scattering observation and aerosol sampling. It was found that aerosols from speaking suspended in stagnant air for up to 9 h with a half-life of 87.2 min. The half-life of the aerosols declined with the increase in air change per hour from 28 to 40 min (1 h[SUP]-1[/SUP]), 10-14 min (4 h[SUP]-1[/SUP]), to 4-6 min (9 h[SUP]-1[/SUP]). The speech aerosols in the size range of about 0.3-2 μm (after dehydration) witnessed the longest lifetime compared to larger aerosols (2-10 μm). These results suggest that speech aerosols have the potential to transmit respiratory viruses across long duration (hours), and long-distance (over social distance) through the airborne route. These findings are important for researchers and engineers to simulate the airborne dispersion of viruses in indoor environments and to design new ventilation systems in the future.
Keywords: Airborne transmission; COVID-19; Lifetime; Respiratory diseases; Speech aerosol.