Ventilation and COVID-19

Published on: 04/11/2020

When breathing, to talk, to sing or to shout expel very small drops that they are floating on the air around 2-3 hours or more, are so-called air sprays. These air sprays can be one via of trasmisión of the COVID-19 since they are subject to contain the virus just as other germs.

In internal atmospheres air sprays are accumulated if there is not a suitable ventilation, for this reason the risk of contagion of COVID-19 in these atmospheres is higher than the risk in the exterior and authorities inform that it is always preferable to carry out all activities that is been able to in the exterior.

WHO's Science in 5 on COVID-19 - Ventilation

The World Health Organization (WHO) has elaborated a video where the importance of the control is explained of the via of airborne transmission through a suitable ventilation.

To reduce the amount of generated air sprays in the closed spaces owe:

  • Limit seating capacities.
  • Use masks.
  • Lower conversations and the tone.

And to control the risk of contagion, control measures involve:

  • Use the well-matched mask.
  • Reduce the time of permanence in the closed space.
  • Increase the interpersonal distance.
  • Ventilate (to contribute new and clean air) to delete or to reduce the presence of air sprays in the atmosphere.

In the document of the Ministry of Health Care "Evaluation of the risk of the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through air sprays. Prevention measures and recommendations " (November 2020) you can find more detailed information on the via of transmission for air sprays, the evaluation of the risk of propagation and the preventive measures to be applied.


Prevention of the propagation of the virus

From the point of view of prevention is owed to secure the ventilation of work the positions in internal atmospheres, guaranteeing the maximum renewal of the air and/or using the suitable filters to control this via of contagion: 

  • Increase contributes the of clean air exterior in a natural way maintaining doors and open windows and through systems of air-conditioning/ventilation avoiding recirculations of air. An indirect indicator of the suitable renewal of air is the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. When breathing exhale CO2, which is why high securities indicate a poor ventilation. 

  • Use filters and purifiers to drop particles and air sprays in suspension on the air is a supplementary measure to the previous one that it allows improving the air quality and to reduce the risk of propagation. Filters type are recommended HEPA or similar of registration filtration effectiveness. 

Below you offer information and resources that collect recommendations on ventilation in the closed spaces to mitigate the propagation of the COVID-19.