Fujii Yusaku
School of Science and Technology, Gunma University, Kiryu, Japan.
JMIR Biomed Eng. 2024 May 14;9:e54666. doi: 10.2196/54666.
Now and in the future, airborne diseases such as COVID-19 could become uncontrollable and lead the world into lockdowns. Finding alternatives to lockdowns, which limit individual freedoms and cause enormous economic losses, is critical.
The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of achieving a society or a nation that does not require lockdown during a pandemic due to airborne infectious diseases through the mass production and distribution of high-performance, low-cost, and comfortable powered air purifying respirators (PAPRs).
The feasibility of a social system using PAPR as an alternative to lockdown was examined from the following perspectives: first, what PAPRs can do as an alternative to lockdown; second, how to operate a social system utilizing PAPR; third, directions of improvement of PAPR as an alternative to lockdown; and finally, balancing between efficiency of infection control and personal freedom through the use of Internet of Things (IoT).
PAPR was shown to be a possible alternative to lockdown through the reduction of airborne and droplet transmissions and through a temporary reduction of infection probability per contact. A social system in which individual constraints imposed by lockdown are replaced by PAPRs was proposed, and an example of its operation is presented in this paper. For example, the government determines the type and intensity of the lockdown and activates it. At that time, the government will also indicate how PAPR can be substituted for the different activity and movement restrictions imposed during a lockdown, for example, a curfew order may be replaced with the permission to go outside if wearing a PAPR. The following 7 points were raised as directions for improvement of PAPR as an alternative method to lockdown: flow optimization, precise differential pressure control, design improvement, maintenance method, variation development such as booth type, information terminal function, and performance evaluation method. In order to achieve the effectiveness and efficiency in controlling the spread of infection and the individual freedom at a high level in a social system that uses PAPRs as an alternative to lockdown, it was considered effective to develop a PAPR wearing rate network management system utilizing IoT.
This study shows that using PAPR with infection control ability and with less economic and social damage as an alternative to nationwide lockdown is possible during a pandemic due to airborne infectious diseases. Further, the efficiency of the government's infection control and each citizen's freedom can be balanced by using the PAPR wearing rate network management system utilizing an IoT system.
无论是现在还是未来，诸如新冠疫情这样的空气传播疾病都可能变得无法控制，导致全球进入封锁状态。寻找封锁的替代方案至关重要，因为封锁限制了个人自由并造成了巨大的经济损失。
本研究的目的是评估通过大规模生产和分发高性能、低成本且舒适的电动空气净化呼吸器（PAPR），在因空气传播传染病而引发的大流行期间实现一个无需封锁的社会或国家的可行性。
从以下几个方面考察了使用PAPR替代封锁的社会系统的可行性：第一，PAPR作为封锁替代方案能发挥什么作用；第二，如何运行一个利用PAPR的社会系统；第三，作为封锁替代方案的PAPR的改进方向；最后，通过物联网（IoT）在感染控制效率和个人自由之间取得平衡。
通过减少空气传播和飞沫传播以及暂时降低每次接触的感染概率，PAPR被证明是封锁的一种可能替代方案。本文提出了一个用PAPR取代封锁所带来的个人限制的社会系统，并给出了其运行示例。例如，政府确定封锁的类型和强度并启动它。此时，政府还将指明如何用PAPR替代封锁期间实施的不同活动和行动限制，例如，宵禁令可以被替换为如果佩戴PAPR就允许外出。作为PAPR作为封锁替代方法的改进方向，提出了以下7点：气流优化、精确的压差控制、设计改进、维护方法、诸如 booth 型等变体开发、信息终端功能以及性能评估方法。为了在一个使用PAPR替代封锁的社会系统中高水平地实现控制感染传播的有效性和效率以及个人自由，开发一个利用物联网的PAPR佩戴率网络管理系统被认为是有效的。
本研究表明，在因空气传播传染病而引发的大流行期间，使用具有感染控制能力且经济和社会损害较小的PAPR替代全国范围的封锁是可行的。此外，通过使用利用物联网系统的PAPR佩戴率网络管理系统，可以平衡政府的感染控制效率和每个公民的自由。
