Estimating and Mitigating Indoor Airborne Pathogens to Support Healthy Buildings
| dc.contributor.advisor | Van Den Wymelenberg, Kevin | |
| dc.contributor.author | Parhizkar , Hooman | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-05-10T15:06:10Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-05-10T15:06:10Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2022-05-10 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The global pandemic has caused myriad damages to the lives of millions of people worldwide. Several studies confirm that indoor spaces are the main hotspots of COVID-19 outbreaks resulting in multiple confirmed instances of human-to-human transmission. Therefore, quantifying the impact of indoor environments and human activities on the transmission of infectious disease is key to stopping the spread of COVID-19 and prepare for future outbreaks. This dissertation is a multidisciplinary collaboration between designers, engineering, biologists, and public health experts to answer a question: “what is the airborne viral exposure risk indoors and how can building design and operations help to effectively reduce the risk of disease transmission indoors during the COVID-19 pandemic?” We aimed to answer these questions through following the projects: Chapter.II. A quantitative aerosol risk estimation platform. Chapter.III. Environmental mitigation of aerosol viral load. Chapter.IV. Respiratory exposure at alternate distances. In Chapter.II, we describe a quantitate aerosol risk estimation platform that is more mechanistic in nature than traditional risk estimates for airborne infectious disease. It enables the inclusion of aerosol size distributions and emissions from infected individuals with several predefined assumptions. In Chapter.III we provide the first real-world evidence that building related interventions described in Chapter.II significantly impact the dispersion and abundance of SARS-CoV-2 virus in the presence of individuals who were diagnosed with COVID-19. We also provide novel insights about the relationships of human and environmental viral loads (aerosols and surfaces) in near and far fields. In Chapter.IV, we describe a novel gas-tracing technique to quantify the degree of exposure to bioaerosols at alternate distances. Here we provide quantitative data to better explain the application of the well-mixed room assumption as well as insights about the distance from emitter variable that underly aerosol risk exposure estimates. In this dissertation, we conclude that buildings have a substantial impact on the risk of COVID-19 transmission. We offer an estimation platform for better understanding the risk of infection transmission indoors and provide proof that environmental mitigation strategies substantially reduce the viral load in a controlled study with infected participants. This dissertation includes both previously published/unpublished and co-authored material. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1794/27156 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.publisher | University of Oregon | |
| dc.rights | All Rights Reserved. | |
| dc.subject | Aerosol Transmission Risk | en_US |
| dc.subject | Bioaerosol Sampling | en_US |
| dc.subject | COVID-19 | en_US |
| dc.subject | Environmental Mitigation | en_US |
| dc.subject | Healthy Buildings | en_US |
| dc.subject | Viral Transmission | en_US |
| dc.title | Estimating and Mitigating Indoor Airborne Pathogens to Support Healthy Buildings | |
| dc.type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation | |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Department of Architecture | |
| thesis.degree.grantor | University of Oregon | |
| thesis.degree.level | doctoral | |
| thesis.degree.name | Ph.D. |
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