Transmission and infection risk of COVID-19 when people coughing in an elevator

Sumei Liu; Zhipeng Deng

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110343

Transmission and infection risk of COVID-19 when people coughing in an elevator

Build Environ. 2023 Jun 15:238:110343. doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110343. Epub 2023 Apr 23.

Authors

Sumei Liu¹, Zhipeng Deng²

Affiliations

¹ Tianjin Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China.
² Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 13244, United States.

Abstract

People in cities use elevators daily. With the COVID-19 pandemic, there are more worries about elevator safety, since elevators are often small and crowded. This study used a proven CFD model to see how the virus could spread in elevators. We simulated five people taking in an elevator for 2 min and analyzed the effect of different factors on the amount of virus that could be inhaled, such as the infected person's location, the standing positions of the persons, and the air flow rate. We found that the position of the infected person and the direction they stood greatly impacted virus transmission in the elevator. The use of mechanical ventilation with a flow rate of 30 ACH (air changes per hour) was effective in reducing the risk of infection. In situations where the air flow rate was 3 ACH, we found that the highest number of inhaled virus copies could range from 237 to 1186. However, with a flow rate of 30 ACH, the highest number was reduced to 153 to 509. The study also showed that wearing surgical masks decreased the highest number of inhaled virus copies to 74 to 155.

Keywords: CFD; Disease transmission; Enclosed space; Infection risk; SARS-COV-2.