1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Easwari Engineering College, Ramapuram, Chennai, India.
2 Institute for Energy Studies, Anna University, Chennai, 600025, India.
3 Department Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.

The contribution of dry indoor built environment on the spread of Coronavirus: Data from various Indian states.

Sustain Cities Soc. 2020 Nov; 62:102371

Authors: V AAR, R V, Haghighat F

Abstract

Coronavirus spread is more serious in urban metropolitan cities compared to rural areas. It is observed from the data on the infection rate available in the various sources that the cold and dry conditions accelerate the spread of coronavirus. In the present work, the existing theory of respiratory droplet drying is used to propose the mechanism of virus spread under various climates and the indoor environment conditions which plays a greater role in the virus spread. This concept is assessed using four major parameters such as population density, climate severity, the volume of indoor spaces, and air-conditioning usage which affect the infection spread and mortality using the data available for various states of India. Further, it is analysed using the data from various states in India along with the respective climatic conditions. It is found that under some indoor scenarios, the coronaviruses present in the respiratory droplets become active due to size reduction that occurs both in sessile and airborne droplet nuclei causing an increase in the spread. Understanding this mechanism will be very useful to take the necessary steps to reduce the rate of transmission by initiating corrective measures and maintaining the required conditions in the indoor built environment.

PMID: 32834934 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]