Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

January 5, 2021

Strategies to Minimize SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in Classroom Settings Combined Impacts of Ventilation and Mask Effective Filtration Efficiency

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[Pre-print, not peer reviewed] A laboratory experiment simulating a reduced occupancy classroom with aerosolized salt as a surrogate for potential SARS-CoV-2 airborne transmission suggests that good ventilation with up to 10 air exchanges per hour was not enough to achieve an infection probability of less than 1% following exposure for over an hour. However, use of face coverings with moderate to high filtration efficiency by all individuals in the room could reduce infection probabilities to 0.1% or <0.01%.

Rothamer et al. (Jan 4, 2021). Strategies to Minimize SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in Classroom Settings Combined Impacts of Ventilation and Mask Effective Filtration Efficiency. Pre-print downloaded Jan 5 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.31.20249101