COVID-19 Virus Can Remain In Public Washrooms 10 Times Longer Than Other Open Spaces

How? According to the researchers, air changes per hour are not the same for all parts of the room. It can be 10 times lower for dead zones.

COVID-19 Virus Can Remain In Public Washrooms 10 Times Longer Than Other Open Spaces

It's been more than a year now that the world is in the grip of deadly coronavirus. However, new studies about this virus, about how it spreads, mutates, and transmits is coming from the researchers every single day. In a major development, an alarming study led by researchers at the Indian Institutes of Technology-Bombay has warned that COVID-19, known to spread through inhalation of virus-laden aerosols, can persist in public washrooms 10 times longer than other open spaces.

COVID-19 virus rides inside tiny microscopic droplets or aerosols ejected from our mouths when we speak, shout, sing, cough, or sneeze. It then floats within the air, where it can be inhaled and transmitted to other people. But in indoor spaces, it tends to linger more in dead zones like shared washrooms, corners of a room, or around furniture increasing the potential for transmission of infection.

Airflow Can Mitigate COVID-19 Transmission

Published in the journal Physics of Fluids, the study explored how airflow can mitigate the transmission of COVID-19 indoors by taking cue from airflow around aircraft and engines.

The researchers discovered that the chances of infection are significantly higher in a dead zone. "Surprisingly, they can be near a door or window, or right next to where an air conditioner is blowing in the air. You might expect these to be safe zones, but they are not," said Krishnendu Sinha, Professor of aerospace engineering at the IIT-Bombay, in a statement.

COVID Virus Stays For Longer Time In The Washroom

In washrooms -- present within offices, restaurants, schools, airplanes, trains, and other public spaces -- the use of water was found as a major source of aerosol, and computer simulations of airflow within a public washroom showed infectious aerosols in dead zones can linger up to 10 times longer than the rest of the room, the researchers said.

"Computer simulations show that air flows in circuitous routes, like a vortex," added Vivek Kumar, a co-author. Kumar further explained, "Ideally, air should be continuously removed from every part of the room and replaced by fresh air. This isn't easy to do when air is trapped in a dead zone."

Currently, ventilation design is often based on air changes per hour. While these design calculations assume fresh air reaches every corner of the room uniformly, computer simulations and experiments within a real washroom show this does not occur, Sinha said.

"Air changes per hour are not the same for all parts of the room. It can be 10 times lower for dead zones. To design ventilation systems to be more effective against the virus, we need to place ducts and fans based on the air circulation within the room. Blindly increasing the volume of air through existing ducts will not solve the problem," he suggested.

(With inputs from IANS)