Use of portable air purifiers to reduce aerosols in hospital settings and cut down the clinical backlog

作者：Jacob Salmonsmith, Andrea Ducci, Ramanarayanan Balachandran, Liwei Guo, Ryo Torii, Catherine Houlihan, Ruth Epstein, John Rubin, Manish K. Tiwari, Laurence Lovat · 发表于：Epidemiology and Infection · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1017/s0950268823000092 · 被引用次数：16 · 研究领域：Infection Control and Ventilation、COVID-19 and healthcare impacts、COVID-19 and Mental Health

Abstract SARS-CoV-2 has severely affected capacity in the National Health Service (NHS), and waiting lists are markedly increasing due to downtime of up to 50 min between patient consultations/procedures, to reduce the risk of infection. Ventilation accelerates this air cleaning, but retroactively installing built-in mechanical ventilation is often cost-prohibitive. We investigated the effect of using portable air cleaners (PAC), a low-energy and low-cost alternative, to reduce the concentration of aerosols in typical patient consultation/procedure environments. The experimental setup consisted of an aerosol generator, which mimicked the subject affected by SARS-CoV-19, and an aerosol detector, representing a subject who could potentially contract SARS-CoV-19. Experiments of aerosol dispersion and clearing were undertaken in situ in a variety of rooms with two different types of PAC in various combinations and positions. Correct use of PAC can reduce the clearance half-life of aerosols by 82% compared to the same indoor-environment without any ventilation, and at a broadly equivalent rate to built-in mechanical ventilation. In addition, the highest level of aerosol concentration measured when using PAC remains at least 46% lower than that when no mitigation is used, even if the PAC's operation is impeded due to placement under a table. The use of PAC leads to significant reductions in the level of aerosol concentration, associated with transmission of droplet-based airborne d...