The Role of Built Environments in Preventing Contamination and Reducing the Spread of COVID-19 for Future Pandemics

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Background

The coronavirus that was first reported in Wuhan, China, in 2019 has been threatening the global population. This highly contagious virus, which causes severe respiratory disease, has affected government operations, commercial operations, and the day-to-day activities of the general public. This situation has prompted global and national measures to minimize the spread of the virus.

The built environment contributes to the spread and contamination of the virus, as people spend more than 90% of their time indoors and even more during lockdown and community quarantine. During the current pandemic, healthy and asymptotic individuals are staying in their houses, and many people that are affected by the virus are now in hospitals and in healthcare facilities. These situations might affect the spread and contamination of the virus, as well as individuals’ interactions with each other.

To reduce the contamination and spread of the virus in the built environment that might affect healthy individuals – such as health care professionals, office workers – it is important to understand the steps that need to be taken and the policies to be implemented along with the theories underlying them. One of the approaches to be considered in designing effective fresh air supply and air extraction ventilation systems to minimize the concentration of suspended viruses. This is in addition to other essential procedures to understand the movement of viruses in the indoor air and its suspension/resuspension to and from surfaces.

This Research Topic aims to gather important scientific information regarding the minimization and prevention of virus contamination and its spread based on theories, practices, policies, and laboratory studies. This will help policymakers, health managers, and governments in devising plans and strategies to minimize the contamination and spread of the virus within built environments and medical buildings.

This Research Topics may include, but is not limited to, the following topics:
• Aerosol and droplets transport
• HVAC systems
• Indoor environment for reducing aerosol spread
• Outdoor air filtration
• HVAC Technologies for reduction of contaminant spread

With this, we are inviting researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to contribute original research and reviews that are based on theoretical, computational, laboratory and field studies. These can include interdisciplinary work and balanced discussions of the implications for practice as well as advice for building operations and maintenance. The output of this Research Topic will help with the refinement of present policies and standards in preparation for possible future outbreaks.

Manuscripts submitted to this Research Topic by the Manuscript deadline (15/12/2020) will incur no charge if directly related to Covid-19 studies and the current pandemic.

The submitted manuscripts will be subjected to a rigorous peer-review process prior to publication by Frontiers in Built Environment.

Keywords: COVID-19, Virus spread, Aerosols, Indoor Pollutants, Outdoor Pollutants, Transport Phenomena, Ventilation, Air Recirculation, Humidity, Temperature, Air Filtration, Indoor Environment, Air Quality

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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