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COVID-19 and Indoor Air Quality – Impacts and Feedback Cycle

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 21733

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Department of Physics, School of Science, University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan
2. Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR / Physics), University of Helsinki, PL 64, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Interests: atmospheric and environmental sciences; air pollution; urban and indoor air quality; dynamics and physical characterization of aerosol particles; emissions and fate of atmospheric aerosols, dry deposition; exposure; modeling, analytical, and numerical methods
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Guest Editor
Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), National Research Council (CNR), Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, Italy
Interests: air quality; atmospheric aerosol; health effects; characterization of ultrafine particles; combustion generated aerosol and urban areas; black carbon and carbonaceous aerosol, and relevant toxicology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Since its discovery in December 2019, the novel SARS-CoV-2 and the related COVID-19 have rapidly spread worldwide. Closed management methods have been applied in order to avoid further spread of the virus and to reduce the infection rate. This lead to positive and negative impacts on both the environment and the human comfort. During the lockdown and curfew, transport related emissions  decreased significantly and the human activity pattern was highly altered,  the majority of people spending almost all their time at home. This resulted in a unique indoor air quality. Mechanisms of airborne transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 indoors are highly debated. In order to prevent the possible virus transport indoors, possibly aggravated through the outdoor air, into the closed indoor microenvironments, houses were tightly closed. In turn, this will elevate the exposure levels to the indoor air pollution, which are emitted during a vast range of inhabitants’ activities. Keeping in mind that health effects assessment studies are relayed on ambient air pollution exposure levels, this would lead to false assessment reports while people spend almost all their time at home with air pollution exposure levels that are multifold higher than those outdoors during the lockdown periods.

This research topic is very important. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to present their current insights in this special issue by submitting high quality letters, technical notes, short communications, and research papers relevant to this theme, which include but are not limited to: 

  • COVID-19 impacts on indoor air quality, including human patterns and mitigation strategies
  • Airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 indoors, with focus on relevance, mechanisms, dynamics, and features of virus-laden aerosol particles
  • Impact of COVID19 on outdoor-to-indoor air relations, including infiltration ratios and aerosol modeling
  • Indoor aerosol exposure and escalated health effects during the COVID-19, with focus on toxicology, epidemiology and virology
  • Data analysis, prediction, and mining,mathematical modelling, simulation, calculation, and forecasting relevant for COVID19 

Prof. Tareq Hussein
Dr. Francesca Costabile
Guest Editors

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 238 KiB  
Editorial
Preventing Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Hospitals and Nursing Homes
by Ajit Ahlawat, Sumit Kumar Mishra, John W. Birks, Francesca Costabile and Alfred Wiedensohler
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(22), 8553; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17228553 - 18 Nov 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 10220
Abstract
The first case of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the novel contagious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019 [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue COVID-19 and Indoor Air Quality – Impacts and Feedback Cycle)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

19 pages, 3410 KiB  
Article
Performance Evaluation of Particulate Matter and Indoor Microclimate Monitors in University Classrooms under COVID-19 Restrictions
by Laurentiu Predescu and Daniel Dunea
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(14), 7363; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147363 - 9 Jul 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3203
Abstract
Optical monitors have proven their versatility into the studies of air quality in the workplace and indoor environments. The current study aimed to perform a screening of the indoor environment regarding the presence of various fractions of particulate matter (PM) and the specific [...] Read more.
Optical monitors have proven their versatility into the studies of air quality in the workplace and indoor environments. The current study aimed to perform a screening of the indoor environment regarding the presence of various fractions of particulate matter (PM) and the specific thermal microclimate in a classroom occupied with students in March 2019 (before COVID-19 pandemic) and in March 2021 (during pandemic) at Valahia University Campus, Targoviste, Romania. The objectives were to assess the potential exposure of students and academic personnel to PM and to observe the performances of various sensors and monitors (particle counter, PM monitors, and indoor microclimate sensors). PM1 ranged between 29 and 41 μg m−3 and PM10 ranged between 30 and 42 μg m−3. It was observed that the particles belonged mostly to fine and submicrometric fractions in acceptable thermal environments according to the PPD and PMV indices. The particle counter recorded preponderantly 0.3, 0.5, and 1.0 micron categories. The average acute dose rate was estimated as 6.58 × 10−4 mg/kg-day (CV = 14.3%) for the 20–40 years range. Wearing masks may influence the indoor microclimate and PM levels but additional experiments should be performed at a finer scale. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue COVID-19 and Indoor Air Quality – Impacts and Feedback Cycle)
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16 pages, 1676 KiB  
Article
Indoor Model Simulation for COVID-19 Transport and Exposure
by Tareq Hussein, Jakob Löndahl, Sara Thuresson, Malin Alsved, Afnan Al-Hunaiti, Kalle Saksela, Hazem Aqel, Heikki Junninen, Alexander Mahura and Markku Kulmala
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(6), 2927; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18062927 - 12 Mar 2021
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 5797
Abstract
Transmission of respiratory viruses is a complex process involving emission, deposition in the airways, and infection. Inhalation is often the most relevant transmission mode in indoor environments. For severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the risk of inhalation transmission is not yet [...] Read more.
Transmission of respiratory viruses is a complex process involving emission, deposition in the airways, and infection. Inhalation is often the most relevant transmission mode in indoor environments. For severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the risk of inhalation transmission is not yet fully understood. Here, we used an indoor aerosol model combined with a regional inhaled deposited dose model to examine the indoor transport of aerosols from an infected person with novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to a susceptible person and assess the potential inhaled dose rate of particles. Two scenarios with different ventilation rates were compared, as well as adult female versus male recipients. Assuming a source strength of 10 viruses/s, in a tightly closed room with poor ventilation (0.5 h−1), the respiratory tract deposited dose rate was 140–350 and 100–260 inhaled viruses/hour for males and females; respectively. With ventilation at 3 h−1 the dose rate was only 30–90 viruses/hour. Correcting for the half-life of SARS-CoV-2 in air, these numbers are reduced by a factor of 1.2–2.2 for poorly ventilated rooms and 1.1–1.4 for well-ventilated rooms. Combined with future determinations of virus emission rates, the size distribution of aerosols containing the virus, and the infectious dose, these results could play an important role in understanding the full picture of potential inhalation transmission in indoor environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue COVID-19 and Indoor Air Quality – Impacts and Feedback Cycle)
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