Practical Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Indoor Air Quality and Thermal Comfort in Kindergartens. A Case Study of Slovenia

Viral infection transmission and indoor air quality: A systematic review

Respiratory disease transmission in indoor environments presents persistent challenges for health authorities, as exemplified by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. This underscores the urgent necessity to investigate the dynamics of viral infection transmission within indoor environments. This systematic review delves into the methodologies of respiratory infection transmission in indoor settings and explores how the quality of indoor air (IAQ) can be controlled to alleviate this risk while considering the imperative of sustainability. Among the 2722 articles reviewed, 178 were retained based on their focus on respiratory viral infection transmission and IAQ. Fifty eight articles delved into SARS-CoV-2 transmission, 21 papers evaluated IAQ in contexts of other pandemics, 53 papers assessed IAQ during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and 46 papers examined control strategies to mitigate infectious transmission. Furthermore, of the 46 papers investigating control strategies, only nine considered energy consumption. These findings highlight clear gaps in current research, such as analyzing indoor air and surface samples for specific indoor environments, oversight of indoor and outdoor parameters (e.g., temperature, relative humidity (RH), and building orientation), neglect of occupancy schedules, and the absence of considerations for energy consumption while enhancing IAQ. This study distinctly identifies the indoor environmental conditions conducive to the thriving of each respiratory virus, offering IAQ trade-offs to mitigate the risk of dominant viruses at any given time. This study argues that future research should involve digital twins in conjunction with machine learning (ML) techniques. This approach aims to enhance IAQ by analyzing the transmission patterns of various respiratory viruses while considering energy consumption.

Challenges and Actions of IAQ under COVID-19: A Survey of Taiwanese People's Perception of Epidemic Prevention and Indoor Places Certification

COVID-19 is still spreading around the world, and the pandemic has awakened the public's attention to environmental cleanliness. This article used an online survey for people living in Taiwan, and a total of 1206 valid questionnaires were collected in October 2021. According to the survey results of Taiwanese people's awareness of and needs for epidemic prevention and IAQ, 94.4% of the respondents agreed that maintaining IAQ during the COVID-19 pandemic is very important for prevention. In addition, 95.4% of them also pointed out that the "Clean and Safe" mark certification should be promoted in public places. Finally, this article also uses hierarchical regression to analyze public perceptions of seven indoor places, including elevators, restaurants, dwellings, offices, gyms, kindergartens, and long-term care centers. The results found that: (1) from the perspective of epidemic prevention, improving IAQ through ventilation strategies could prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) from the perspective of promotion certification, the elevators, restaurants and offices could establish strengthened IAQ, dwellings, gyms and long-term care centers should emphasize the display of IAQ information in entrances and exits, and kindergartens should focus on increasing safety and reducing infection.

The impact of built environment on mental health: A COVID-19 lockdown perspective

Tackling mental health has become a priority for governments around the world because it influences not only individuals but also the whole society. As people spend a majority of their time (i.e., around 90%) in buildings, it is pivotal to understand the relationship between built environment and mental health, particularly during COVID-19 when people have experienced recurrent local and national lockdowns. Despite the demonstration by previous research that the design of the built environment can affect mental health, it is not clear if the same influence pattern remains when a 'black swan' event (e.g., COVID-19) occurs. To this end, we performed logistic regression and hierarchical regression analyses to examine the relationship between built environment and mental health utilising a data sample from the United Kingdom (UK) residents during the COVID-19 lockdown while considering their social demographics. Our results show that compared with depression and anxiety, people were more likely to feel stressed during the lockdown period. Furthermore, general house type, home workspace, and neighbourhood environment and amenity were identified to have significantly contributed to their mental health status. With the ensuing implications, this study represents one of the first to inform policymakers and built environment design professionals of how built environment should be designed to accommodate features that could mitigate mental health problems in any future crisis. As such, it contributes to the body of knowledge of built environment planning by considering mental health during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Towards Resilient Residential Buildings and Neighborhoods in Light of COVID-19 Pandemic—The Scenario of Podgorica, Montenegro

The COVID-19 crisis and new pandemic-oriented everyday life have emphasized the urge to reorganize the way we live and reside, additionally highlighting the already existing socio-spatial problematic that Montenegrin society has been experiencing for thirty years. Since residential space is considered to be vital for physical, mental and social wellbeing, this sudden and global paradigm shift presents an opportunity to redefine the current housing concepts towards greater long-term resilience in the context of present, pandemic and future challenges. The results of the survey of housing users in Podgorica confirmed the need to address this issue. The article discusses a possible model of resilient adaptation of residential buildings and neighborhoods in Podgorica, Montenegro. The model addresses the flexibility of the apartment units, existence of indoor and outdoor common areas for social activities within the building and immediate contact with nature, and it is applicable in the wider territorial context as well. Formulated with the aim of long-term improvement of the concept of housing, the model presents a significant framework for the planning and design of future buildings. The resilient residential model is tested by its application to specific buildings of residential area Blok 5 in Podgorica. This leads to the conclusion that the earlier concepts of housing present in theory and practice in the second half of the twentieth century in Montenegro and the region were more adequate in the context of resilience. As we believe that such improved resilient housing would consequently increase the resilience of the community regarding the challenges it faces currently due to COVID-19, we consider this a long-term contribution of this research.

Monitoring and Assessment of Indoor Environmental Conditions after the Implementation of COVID-19-Based Ventilation Strategies in an Educational Building in Southern Spain

Since students and teachers spend much of their time in educational buildings, it is critical to provide good levels of indoor environmental quality (IEQ). The current COVID-19 pandemic has shown that maintaining a good indoor air quality level is an effective measure to control the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This study used sensors to monitor key IEQ factors and assess several natural ventilation scenarios in a classroom of the University of Granada. Subsequently, the IEQ factors (temperature, relative humidity, CO₂ concentration, acoustic environment, and air velocity) were evaluated for the selected ventilation scenarios in the occupied classroom, and the field monitoring was carried out in two different assessment periods, winter and summer. The obtained results show that the CO₂ concentration levels were well below the recommended limits. However, the maintenance of the recommended thermal and acoustic IEQ factors was significantly affected by the natural ventilation strategies (temperature and relative humidity values were very close to the outside values, and the background sound pressure level was over 35 dBA during the entire assessment). The proper measurements and careful selection of the appropriate ventilation scenarios become of utmost importance to ensure that the ventilation rates required by the health authorities are achieved.