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Room-level ventilation in schools and universities

Literature Reference
Peer Reviewed Literature
Authors

V. Faye McNeill a,b,*, Richard Corsi c, J. Alex Huffman d, Cathleen King e, Robert Klein f,g, Michael Lamore h, Do Young Maeng a, Shelly L. Miller i, Nga Lee Ng j,k,l, Paula Olsiewski m, Krystal J. Godri Pollitt n,o, Rachel Segalman p,q, Alex Sessions r, Todd Squires p, Sabrina Westgate j

Date
January 26th, 2022
Abstract

Ventilation is of primary concern for maintaining healthy indoor air quality and reducing the spread of airborne infectious disease, including COVID-19. In addition to building-level guidelines, increased attention is being placed on room-level ventilation. However, for many universities and schools, ventilation data on a room-byroom basis are not available for classrooms and other key spaces. We present an overview of approaches for measuring ventilation along with their advantages and disadvantages. We also present data from recent case studies for a variety of institutions across the United States, with various building ages, types, locations, and climates, highlighting their commonalities and differences, and examples of the use of this data to support decision making.

a - Department of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
b - Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
c - College of Engineering, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
d - Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Denver, Denver, CO, 80208, USA
e - Environmental Health and Safety, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
f - Occupational Health & Environmental Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
g - Coastal Safety, LLC, Clinton, CT, 06413, USA
h - Facilities Utilities and Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA i - Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA
j - School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
k - School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
l - School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
m - Center for Health Security, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21202, USA
n - Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
o - Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
p - Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
q - Department of Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
r - Department of Geology and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA