Kim Chul, Lee Yun Gyu, Kim Kichul
Department of Architectural Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan, 48513, Korea.
Department of Building Research, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, Goyang-Si, 10223, Korea.
Heliyon. 2024 Dec 20;11(1):e41327. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e41327. eCollection 2025 Jan 15.
Many COVID-19 outbreaks occurred in senior care facilities during the last three years. Senior care facilities are nursing places for the long-term treatment and care of senior citizens, who are prone to be exposed to an infectious disease that spreads into these buildings. Therefore, this study investigated airborne contaminant transmissions based on outbreak cases in senior care facilities in Korea and analyzed the potential impact of architectural features in a selected senior care facility using network simulations. The results showed that during COVID-19 outbreaks in 85 senior care facilities the staff accounted for the largest proportion of the index cases, indicating that the staff members would be the primary virus carriers in the initial process of the virus transmission in the senior care facilities. Network simulations indicated that the (reverse) stack effect could significantly influence airborne contaminant transmission in these facilities during the summer and winter months. The indoor airborne contaminant exposure may change according to seasonal indoor airflows, with the potential for long-distance airborne contaminant transfer through shafts (e.g., elevators and staircases) in the senior care facility. The findings of this study can serve as a reference for developing customized countermeasures against airborne contaminant transmissions in senior care facilities.
在过去三年中，许多新冠疫情在老年护理机构爆发。老年护理机构是为老年人提供长期治疗和护理的场所，这些老年人容易接触到传播到这些建筑内的传染病。因此，本研究基于韩国老年护理机构的疫情案例调查了空气传播污染物的传播情况，并使用网络模拟分析了选定老年护理机构建筑特征的潜在影响。结果表明，在85家老年护理机构的新冠疫情爆发期间，工作人员在索引病例中占比最大，这表明工作人员将是老年护理机构病毒传播初始阶段的主要病毒携带者。网络模拟表明，（反向）烟囱效应在夏季和冬季可能会显著影响这些设施中的空气传播污染物传播。室内空气传播污染物暴露可能会根据季节性室内气流而变化，老年护理机构中存在通过竖井（如电梯和楼梯）进行远距离空气传播污染物转移的可能性。本研究结果可为制定针对老年护理机构空气传播污染物传播的定制对策提供参考。
